The Monster Within
by MidnightEden234
Summary: Ichigo is trapped, powerless and alone. The Soul Society turned their backs on him, locked him up and now he's being set for an execution all because of the strange new Head Captain. However, Ichigo has found a new hope from the one person he never expected and thus making the Monster Within grow. HICHIICHI / Ichigo's POV / Character Deaths / Complete
1. Chapter One: I say Yes

**Warnings: Yaoi/romance and character death.**

**Pairing: Shiro(saki) x Ichigo**

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I can feel him, every day. He's scratching at invisible walls, walls that only exist within my mind, walls that I put up to hide him from my family and friends, to try and pretend that I'm not a monster... But I can't hide the truth that he's there.

_**'Ichigo!'**_

He constantly calls my name and I wince with fear from his lust filled voice.

He and I are both waiting for the day that we become whole. We're both waiting for my fear to vanish and we're both waiting for my answer.

His laugh echoes through my head; it's the perfect example of a demon's. I wait with fear for the scratching to start up again. He's getting better at it too. In the beginning he could just barely reach the walls, but now his black fingernails can easily tear open cracks.

_**'Come on Ichigo!'**_

So many times I've avoided conversation. So many times I've turned my back on the hollow and have walked away. If I granted him freedom, if I let those walls come down, would I ever recover from the damage it could cause?

_**'Your friends don't want ya.'**_

I know this already.

_**'If they did, why would they willin'ly help the Seireitei in this mission?'**_

This is the hundredth time he's tried this.

_**'Ya're trapped an' ya're all alone.'**_

"But I'm not alone," I wanted to yell, "I still have you and Zangetsu!" But if I said that, I'd become weak.

_**'Rukia was the one that led ya here. Then Sado, Uryu an' Orihime blocked your exits.'**_ Another cackle escaped him. I could see his pasty white smirk appear through a hole in the wall. _**'All of the captains fought against ya until all your Shinigami powers were exhausted. That's when the lieutenants came in an' pinned ya to the floor. After everyone left, ya just sat here, all alone, talkin' to me.'**_

I could almost feel myself going insane. The mental image came to mind of him shoving through my wall. The more I listened, the stronger he became and the closer he moved towards me, the more I wanted to listen. Then I felt it, his warm hand caressing my cheek and the warmth of another flowing into me. The wall had long since shattered.

_**'I knew ya'd listen to me.'**_ His other hand slithered down my arm while the first continued to sinfully play with my cheek. The orange in his eyes seemed exceptionally hungry. His voice had clearly been holding back.

'_What do you want from me?'_ That was obviously a stupid question considering what he was doing. A more important question would have been,_ why_?

'_**Ya're so naïve Ichigo, honestly.' **_His voice… it was getting playful.

I swallowed, trying to hide my fear. I went to take a step back, but was stopped by the lack of response coming from my body. I started to panic, what else would I do? Well, maybe I could keep talking to him, at least until I found a way out of this situation.

I could feel his thumb pressed against my palm as he brought my hand to his lips. I flinched and turned away as his hot breath light brushed my frost bitten skin. Despite the fact that the sensation I felt was warm, I shivered. Pins and needles crawled up my spin and seemed to reawaken my ability to move, but only long enough for me shudder.

This made him laugh. My physical torture was amusing my hollow. I guess it was logical though. If my time with Rukia hadn't confirmed that, then this very moment surely did.

'_**Ya know, without your powers ya're basically just an empty shell waitin' for somethin' else to take control. So that means, if ya stay here long enough, we'll switch roles.'**_

I didn't like the sound of that.

'_**In fact, we kinda already have.' **_There was a pause, before he chuckled and continued. _**'You'll become the horse… An' I'll be tha king.'**_

'_That'll never happen!' _I was shouting empty threats here. I couldn't fight him, I wouldn't even last a minute.

'_**I love it when ya fight back, makes things more interestin'.' **_He laughed again. God I wish he'd stop with that laugh! I've heard a million times and it got old at around twenty.

I couldn't help the gasp that escaped my lips a few seconds later. While we were talking he had apparently slipped behind me and had managed to shove his hand underneath my shihakusho. His white hands burned my skin and on top of that he had decided to start caressing it. I was ready to scream at him, to tell him to get the fuck away, but I couldn't bring myself to say any of those words. It had been eight years, **eight fucking years** since someone had even held my hand.

I could feel his breath on my ear now. He was magnificently close and I… I _liked_ it. No, scratch that, I _loved_ it. I would have drifted to sleep from pure pleasure if it weren't for the sudden jolt of pain that screamed throughout my entire body. He had bitten my neck. Again, I couldn't stop myself from making a noise. I let out a cry of pain, but even my own voice had betrayed me and it came out louder than I had wanted it to be.

Something wet, feeling remotely like tongue, slid across my neck. I shuddered again as it applied pressure on the sore spot, the spot that was currently bleeding.

'_**Didn't I say "I knew ya'd listen to me"? I won't hurt ya like they did Ichigo. I won't leave ya in a place full of putrefaction.'**_

I nodded. His hands were both now working to leave me shirt less, but I no longer cared. I just needed him, I just needed to listen to him, follow what he said. He was right, he'd become the king and I'd carry him around, because that would make us flawless.

By the time I finished my thought, he had my shirt on the floor and nothing but a string and some black fabric separated me from blatancy. His black nails clawed at my skin causing my cold blood to pour down my stomach. He took a few seconds to admire my screams all while his demonic smirk grew.

As soon as the pain reduced itself to a few tiny stings every so often, he shoved me to the ground but at least had the decency to break the fall with a quick catch.

'_**Tell me…' **_he whispered. His hand slowly slide up the back of my head and intertwined with my mop of hair. _**'Who am I?' **_It was as though he was daring me to say the wrong answer, as though he deliberately wanted me to be incorrect so that he could answer for me, or perhaps he simply was going to do that anyways?

'_You always say that you don't have a name,'_ I replied, hoping to leave him with something he didn't expect. _'You said that you didn't have a name, you've also said that you're my instincts. But I think you need a real name, because just going around without one seems pointless.'_

He smiled, seemingly enjoying my answer. _**'Well then,'**_ he countered, _**'What would ya call me?'**_

'_Shiro.'_

He smirk widened much further than it should have been able to. Rather than saying yes, his hand forcibly shoved my head towards his. Our lips met in a furious clash of hot and cold. His lips were hot, scorching my terribly cold skin. His tongue easily slipped into my mouth, mainly because of his dominant spirit but also because I practically begged him to. It played around until he torturously pulled back, making sure that I would always want more. Well, he was indeed an expert. Though I'm sure he also pulled away so that I would be able to breathe. I wasn't so sure about him, but I was panting afterwards.

'_Shiro,' _I repeated, testing the name. I could feel his contentment of the name more than his face chose to reveal. I indeed smiled on the inside, but my body was way too weak to preform anything more than starring.

'_**Rest now, Ichigo. When ya wake up, I'll get you the fuckin' hell outta here.'**_

My eyes involuntarily closed. My head fell to the slide and rested on his arm. I could feel him shift his weight from on me to beside as he lay down. His breath blew through my hair and his arm shifted to provide me with more of a pillow. His arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer, making me warmer, making me feel more alive. Nothing felt better than this, absolutely nothing.


	2. Chapter Two: Get me out of here

I felt my head grow heavy as the weightlessness of my sleep came to an end. My arms instinctively moved to stretch, one reaching upwards and the other down, while my legs cracked as a result of sleeping on solid ground. My left hand then moved to examine the sudden pain I found in my neck when it came across something rough and scab-like.

My eyes were opened in an instant.

I tried to stand up, but he had reacted faster. Shiro's hands took hold of mine and pulled me down to my knees. I assumed the fear on my face looked funny because he laughed while his eyes scanned my face. I couldn't help but to stare into Shiro's eyes. They were different from last night, not as blood thirsty. Instead what I saw in his eyes was joy mixed with playfulness.

'_**Mornin' Ichigo.'**_ I though his grin couldn't grow larger, well I was proven wrong. _**'Are ya ready to get outta here?'**_

Much to my surprise, I nodded. Shiro stood up and cracked his neck all without letting go of my hands. He gave them a good yank, nearly popping my shoulders, before I flew up off the ground and landed in his arms. It kind of frustrated me that Shiro was treating me like some sort of puppet, but then again I fully gave up the right to be King so he could really do whatever he wanted. I also couldn't fight back _because_ I gave in freely, it would just feel wrong to take back something you gave willingly, right?

'_**Well then, I s'pose I'm gonna wait inside **__our__** head 'till ya need me. I'm sure that ya're capable of breaking walls by yerself.'**_

I reran what Shiro had just said through my head, something didn't sound right to me. _'Hang on a second,'_ I said. He raised an eyebrow. _'You're going to wait around in our head until I need you?'_

Shiro chuckled. _**'That's what I just said isn't it?'**_

'_Well, yeah…' _I felt stupid. _'But, didn't you say you wanted to be King? And didn't you also say that we swapped roles?'_

'_**No, though it's true that I'd like to be Kin', if I was then ya'd be dead. What I said was that we switched roles, not that we swapped roles. Rather than ya becomin' horse an' me becomin' Kin', we've both become equal. So ya an' I are gonna work together, unless ya'd rather be dead?'**_

I was about to answer, but that's when I heard a loud noise. The lights came on and Shiro vanished all while the door creaked slowly open. The person who walked in was a girl with orange hair a slighter darker shade than mine. Her kind features were ruined by the icy stare on her face and by the tense position she currently held.

Orihime.

She was different from the eight year old picture I had of her in my memories. I think she's taller and maybe more muscular? But honestly it wasn't much of an improvement.

"Ichigo Kurosaki." Orihime said my name like it was filth. She was really starting to piss me off. "You have been sentenced to life in prison, however new orders have arrived and I am here to inform you that you shall be moved to the Repentance Tower to await your execution."

"My execution," I repeated with a laugh. Really? They were going to execute _me?_ Ha! I'd like to see them try.

Orihime gave me an odd glare. It was as though she was contemplating killing me herself, but the look faded and she went back outside the door.

What had happened in the past few years to make her this angry at me? I was only locked in here because that bastard Yamamoto died and his replacement got scared. He ordered the captains and lieutenants to capture me and to put me into prison, but I had never done anything to make Orihime mad, so why was she? And why was she a Shinigami now?

'_**She's probably scared of ya.'**_

'_Huh?' _I had almost forgotten about Shiro. _'Why would she be scared? Orihime wouldn't be mad because she's scared.'_

'_**No, but she'd be scared if the Seireitei had convinced her that cha could become a monster at any second an' she'd be mad that ya never told her 'bout me. It's probably why they've scheduled an execution too. I'm surprised that it's taken them this long to make that decision.'**_

'_Right, because lying to my friends and locking me in jail wasn't enough. When did you suspect this?'_

Shiro shrugged. _**'Don't know… Since yer fight with Kariya, maybe? That's when Rukia an' Renji found out 'bout,' **_he laughed, _**'ya bein' part hollow.'**_

"Ichigo!"

There she was, the last person I wanted to see, and just like Orihime she was mad (though she was doing a pretty good job a hiding it). The raven haired girl with grey eyes and her infamous lieutenant badge.

Rukia Kuchiki.

"Let me guess, Byakuya's got you and Orihime running around doing his dirty work again? Funny how he wanted you to be the one to bring me to the Repentance Tower," I growled coldly. I'll admit, I was being kind of rude, but I guess that's proof that hollows are bad role models.

Shiro laughed at that.

"Bite your tongue Ichigo," Rukia replied. "You're right however, and I am here to take you to the Repentance Tower. That's where you'll sit for thirty long days until the Sokyoku is released and your execution will commence."

'_**Follow Rukia for now,' **_Shiro planned, _**'from now until the tower will be the best time to observe our surroundings. If we're lucky, an' that's a big if, we might find yer Zanpakuto. However, if we don't we'll have to wait out tha thirty days in the tower 'till ya're strong enough the get out.'**_

'_Why can't you just break us free right now?'_

'_**I was goin' to, but now that ya've got an execution on yer head it complicates things. If no one had entered yer cell today than that would have meant hardly anyone was watchin' te make sure ya don't go free. We probably would have gotten to a Senkaimon with ease an' maybe only five Shinigami would've blocked out path. Now though we've got the entire Seireitei watchin' ta make sure ya don't break free.'**_

Oh.

'_**Got it?'**_

'_Yeah.'_ I returned my focus to Rukia who had just begun unlocking the highly complicated door. After another forty seconds she had finished and was walking towards me with a red collar. I could remember that collar easily as the one Rukia was wearing when I rescued her from being executed. I wondered if she remembered too.

With an easy click, Rukia had gotten the collar around my neck. I felt slightly more drained than usual, but it was hardly any different than from the way I was feeling before. Four more Shinigami entered the room and surrounded me, each of them carrying long white poles. These poles all seemed to snap onto the collar, but honestly I didn't really care. I wasn't going to fight them, but it wouldn't have been worth my time trying to explain that.

We exited quickly, only stopping briefly to allow Rukia to shut the cell door. She walked us outside of the building where ten more Shinigami stood waiting. I recognised one of them as Orihime, but none other was familiar.

Orihime along with three others took to the front and the other six took to the back as we walked up the hill away from the tiny building. I took a great liking to the breeze; it felt so much better than the tiny draft I was getting from a crack in the wall. The buildings were nice too; I liked the yellow on white color of the bricks. I hadn't remembered the Seireitei being so colorful, but then again I had been locked up for a good eight to ten years.

Once we reached the top of our climb we reached a bridge. We walked across it towards the tallest building in the Seireitei, the Repentance Tower. It was a cylinder building with nothing but pure white walls and beige roof. The windows were like cat slits that spread up the tower a great distance apart from the other windows and would barely fit a butterfly through, let alone a human body.

It was then that I noticed the bad news. Despite the fact that I had been sentenced to execution, I had just now fully grasped the idea that I didn't have Zangetsu. My sword being gone for eight years, it had either been lost or destroyed. Personally I had hoped Rukia would show me where my Zanpakuto was as a way to try and torture me more, but I guess not even she could be that mean. Either that or Zangetsu had actually been destroyed. Then what would I do?

"You thirty days start now Ichigo," Rukia stated. The four people with poles pulled against the collar and it snapped in four. "Take this time to recall all your good memories and to regret the bad. These are your final days to live."

She left just after the fourteen others did. Wow, fifteen people had to escort me to a giant white tower? Was I great or what? I let loose a little laugh at that. I guess I was going to need it if I ever hoped to survive these next thirty days.

But I guess I've got the upper hand against the Seireitei because I don't have to spend thirty days alone. They'll never understand me, they'll never understand the strength I have and they'll never understand that a Shinigami can have a bond with a hollow. And now, whether I choose to believe it or not, my life depends on my own hollow and the monster within.

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**There, I think I've got it established now. Shiro wants Ichigo (duh!) and he also wants to be King, but unless he kills Ichigo that won't happen. So now I've got the two boys working together, AND I've got the dark fic and battles getting set and ready to play! xD**

**Also, thirty days alone with a powerful hollow and little-to-no Shinigami powers… I guess our little monster within is going to start growing. (epic evil smirk)**

**I'm also going to try and update this story weekly, no promises though! And if I get stuck, I'm screwed! So if you have any ideas, any what-so-ever! PLEASE leave them in a review! I need ideas and it doesn't even have to be for this story, if you want a whole other story based off of an idea that you have, I'll do it! Also I LOVE hearing from you guys!**

**Until next time, R&R and I'll see ya around! DG**


	3. Chapter Three: Who's here with me?

"HYAAHHHHHH!"

Judging by the tone of the scream, I could tell that whoever I shared this fate with was a female and apparently angry. I slowly turned around, expecting to get a kick in the face or a punch in the gut, but what happened was even too fast for me to tell. There was a flash of white then black before I suddenly realised my attacker's foot had landed in my palm.

**_'Do I have te do everythin' for ya?'_**

'_I should've known you'd interfere if I did nothing.'_

_**'Well, I wouldn't want yer pretty little face gettin' scratched now would I? Besides, what if she was attackin' with a sword? Then ya'd be dead.'**_

'_Or I'd have half a hand.'_

_**'Tch.'**_

I smiled a little, but that all disappeared within the next few seconds. My eyes fell apon my attacker, a girl, of course, with black hair and brown eyes. She looked to be a little older than me, but her features, such as her eyes, hadn't matured yet. I knew this person… but it couldn't be… it wouldn't be… was she-?

"Looks like your reactions have improved, Ichigo."

Tatsuki?

She laughed then withdrew her foot. "Though, I really wish you didn't block my kick. You deserve a right hard smack to the head, you idiot."

"T- Tatsuki?" I was stuttering. Gosh I'm such an idiot. But the questions I had, I guess it wasn't really surprising that they didn't want to come out. So, I started with the basics. "Why are you here?"

"Well," Tatsuki sighed. "I guess it all depends. Do you want the full story, or the short and sweet one?"

"Well, I guess it all depends," I repeated mockingly, "what do I need to know?

"The long one."

I laughed.

"Okay." She tried to sound happy, but it wasn't working. I had seen this trick way too many times before. Whoever was talking would smile or try to sound okay, but the truth was that whatever news was coming was bad. Tatsuki took in a deep breath before she continued. I took her hint and did the same. "Give me your hand, Ichigo."

That I didn't expect. "Why?"

She smiled, "My ability."

"You're what?"

She laughed this time. "You're not the only one around here with special abilities, hero-boy. Now give me your hand."

**Author's POV**

Tatsuki sighed idly as yet another school day came and went with no signs of Ichigo Kurosaki. Sure, one day gone was understandable, but a whole week?

"Hey, Tatsuki Arisawa eh?"

Tatsuki spun around and held her fists threateningly in the air. The man sounded like he was drunk or at least too happy to be a simple passerby. There was also the fact that he knew her name, but Tatsuki hadn't quite noticed that. "What do you want?"

"Ooh, a little fast aren't we?" The man pulled out a white fan in order to try and cover up his giggle. "My name's Kisuke Urahara and what I want is for you to try and knock my hat off my head."

"Why would I do that?" Tatsuki questioned with an eyebrow raised.

Kisuke closed his fan revealing an almost icy stare. "If you can knock off my hat, I'll show you where Ichigo is."

Tatsuki's heart skipped a beat and she suddenly forgot how to breathe. She recovered quickly however, and allowed a smirk to cross over her face. "Alright then," Tatsuki agreed, "Just tell me where and when."

"Here and now."

Tatsuki made the first move, coming at Kisuke as fast as she could. Her hand got close to Kisuke's hat, but he ended up using his cane to swat her hand away. Next thing that happened happened so fast it was as though the time in-between the move had never existed. Kisuke caught Tatsuki's arms and held them behind her back while using his foot to pin her to the ground. Tatsuki's eyes opened wide but the fact remained he had her beat. That's when she suddenly found out about her abilities. Tatsuki's white reiatsu flared wildly temporarily blinding Kisuke. When he regained his vision the first thing he noticed was a black wolf with large blue eyes glaring calmly at him. The next thing he noticed was his hat clenched tightly in the wolf's teeth and the smirk that the wolf nearly had.

"How's that for a surprise," Kisuke remarked. "Oi, Yoruichi! Did ya see that?"

A woman appeared at Kisuke's side, obviously this was Yoruichi, holding a white blanket. "I did." She turned to the wolf. "Come here kiddo, I won't hurt you."

The wolf lowered its head and placed the hat on the ground before slowly making its way over to Yoruichi. When Yoruichi began to gently pet the wolf's head, it flashed white before Tatsuki reappeared with a horrified look on her face. Yoruichi wrapped the blanket around her and lifted her to her feet. Tatsuki awkwardly walked back to her house with Yoruichi keeping her balanced. Once they were at Tatsuki's house, Yoruichi laid her down and took to caring for Tatsuki. She instantly found the kitchen and had a great time using all possible utensils in trying to cook a meal.

"So," Tatsuki eventually spoke.

Yoruichi interrupted, "Ichigo's safe, for now. I assume with spiritual pressure like that, you were able to see him in his spirit form?"

"Huh? You mean, when he was in those black robes?"

"Yeah." Yoruichi smiled. "Well, Ichigo's a Shinigami."

"A Death God?" Tatsuki questioned in alarm.

The purple haired girl laughed. "Okay, maybe the more correct term here would be a Soul Reaper. Basically it's a Soul Reaper, or Shinigami's job to send good souls to the Soul Society and bad souls to… well, hell. Then either soul that becomes locked to earth can turn into a hollow. It's also the Shinigami's job to fight hollows and return them to their original soul form."

"Shinigami send souls to the Soul Society or to hell, then save them from becoming hollows, got it," Tatsuki restated. "That still doesn't tell me where Ichigo is."

"If I were to tell you, you'd go rushing off trying to find a way to get there. You haven't trained, you need to sleep and you wouldn't last one day in the Soul Society. You'd be lucky if you even got a glimpse of the Seireitei."

"What's that?"

"Where the other Shinigami live," Yoruichi answered quickly. "It consists of three palaces, thirteen squad barracks and over a double dozen prison cells. With the level you're at, you were lucky to even knock off Kisuke's hat, but if you were to enter the Soul Society right now, you'd either be captured or dead in less than an hour."

Tatsuki sighed, and then nodded. "You'll train me, right?"

"Of course."

Days passed while Tatsuki trained at Kisuke's training grounds. She fought Yoruichi for eight hours straight then battle with Kisuke for another two. The deal was that as soon as she was able to get to Kisuke's Shikai level and knock of his hat, she'd be able to go to the Seireitei. And so, the week passed and she continued to fight.

Day seven came along; she was half an hour away from finishing fighting Yoruichi. Yoruichi was running around as a black cat. Her speed was definitely much faster in this form versus her human one, but Tatsuki was fast too. Yoruichi had spent one of their training sessions teaching Tatsuki how to use Shunpo and surprisingly she had gotten the hang of it in only four hours.

Now that Shunpo was coming quite handily. Tatsuki was using it every five seconds because of the rate of Yoruichi's attacks. It was time for Tatsuki to change from defence to offense though because just flashing around wasn't much help training wise.

So Tatsuki focused her energy on the howling she heard in her heart. Before she knew it, Yoruichi was beneath her claws and Tatsuki was snarling right in her face. Yoruichi quickly turned the tables though and changed back to her human form so she could shove Tatsuki away. Yoruichi turned back into her cat form and she and Tatsuki battled all out for the last twenty five minutes.

"Arisawa," Kisuke called excitedly, "Time to calm down!"

Tatsuki instantly stopped herself from jumping at Yoruichi and instead used her energy to find her clothing. It only took a few seconds to change back to a human then to put her shorts, shirt and sneakers back on. "Coming Mr. Urahara!" she called to Kisuke as she ran out from behind a giant rocky hill.

'She's such a great student,' Yoruichi silently complemented, 'she learns fast and she's got great respected.'

"Are you ready," Kisuke asked.

Tatsuki nodded, putting her hands in front of her to block any attacks that may come.

Kisuke tapped his cane against the ground below and the wooden part fell off to reveal a hidden Zanpakuto. Her pointed the blade at Tatsuki then calmly said, "Awaken, Benihime."

'Thank you, Mr. Urahara.'

Kisuke's Shikai took the form of a sleek, medium-sized sword. The hilt of his Zanpakuto bent forward at the end with a crimson tassel dangling from its base. As expected, he called out the name of a barely heard attack and a bright red arc of light came straight for Tatsuki. She flashed to the right then dove to Kisuke's side. Before he was able to make her move she flashed to his other side and proceeded to give him the hardest kick she could muster to his foot. Kisuke temporarily lost balance just long enough to Tatsuki's finger to skim the top of his hat. Kisuke swung Benihime upwards causing Tatsuki to retreat. She landed far back from where she started and only caught her balance in time to evade another one of Kisuke's attacks.

Their battle basically went on for a whole other hour. Tatsuki got close, but Kisuke was just barely faster than she was. He stated that Tatsuki definitely learned Shunpo from Yoruichi because there was no one else he knew who could have moved that fast. Just when the time was almost up, Tatsuki had managed to hit Kisuke with her elbow and stun him just long enough to aim a kick at his head.

"That was close," Kisuke laughed. "You could've taken my head off with that blow!"

Yoruichi laughed from behind him. "She wasn't aiming for your head."

Kisuke turned around and sure enough there was his hat being twirled from the tip of Yoruichi's finger. He turned back to Tatsuki while putting away his Zanpakuto then pulled out his fan a chuckled. "Well done Miss Arisawa!"

"C'mon kiddo, I'll take you to see Ichigo now," Yoruichi informed.

Tatsuki was overwhelmed with joy.

**. : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : .**

**This turned out a little differently than I thought it was going to... but... I like it!**

**Hope you've enjoyed this chapter!**

**R&R and I'll see ya later!**


	4. Chapter Four: No Way

**Well… I'm just a little late! xD**

**Kudos for trying?**

**. : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : .**

**Ichigo's POV**

I couldn't believe it. Well, I could, but it was just hard to. Not only was Tatsuki sharing her own memories through the palm of her hand and into my head, but she could also change into a wolf? It was hard to decide if this was good news, or bad.

The good news being that she was alive and had grown much stronger since last I'd seen her. The bad news was that she had been dragged into a situation which would, and probably already has, changed her life forever.

"There you have it," Tatsuki said, taking me back to reality.

"Wow," I replied, stunned. "So then, you can turn into a wolf and you've also got some strange connection that allows you to share memories too? How did you end up here? If I recall correctly the time you spent training and gathering information about me would have lasted you a month. There's still seven to nine years missing in there."

"Uhh, well, I was about to leave to the Soul Society when a group of people started causing chaos in Karakura town. They sent dozens of hollows, wave after wave. Yoruichi and I had to defend Karakura and give time to Kisuke so that he could build a Senkaimon. After the troublemakers were defeated, a bunch of rogue Shinigami came. After we defeated them; that had been the end of six years. Then finally we entered the Soul Society taking another month to get into the Seireitei, find out as much information on you as possible then about three months later Yoruichi and I got captured. We fought and almost broke free, but I ended up giving freedom to Yoruichi and allowed myself to be contained in prison."

"No way," I mumbled under my breath. This had all happened while I was stuck here sitting on my ass? What kind of head captain would order this?

"Ichigo, I'm being executed tonight."

My heart nearly stopped. Tatsuki was being executed, _tonight?_ "I won't let that happen," I promised. I would keep my word. She wasn't going to have to suffer any more that she already had, all because of me.

"That's great for you to say Ichigo, but without a Zanpakuto what can you do?"

I sighed. There was obviously some lack of info she had if she was asking that question, but what if Tatsuki already knew about it and was afraid to speak? The safest thing to do was to ask. "What 'information' did you get about me? How much do you know?"

"Oh…" Clearly she was surprised by my question. "Well, a lady with raven black hair-" Rukia. "-said that you were locked in prison because you violated every rule of the Seireitei. I think it was Rukia, but she looks different dressed in all black. Umm… Then… a boy, maybe, he was kinda small and scrawny-" Hanataro. "-said that he had no idea why everybody hated you. He also told me about how you rescued Rukia from an execution and how you defeated a Bount named Kariya, a rogue Zanpakuto named Muramasa, and even some of the captains around here. There were only a few others, but they all either said what an amazing fighter you were or how much of a threat you were to the Seireitei and all that was good in this universe."

"The girl you mentioned was probably Rukia, and the boy would have been Hanataro. They're both right, in a sense… I broke a lot of rules here, but that was only when I was rescuing Rukia. Hanataro is also right about me defeating Muramasa, Kariya and some of the captains." I was talking about myself. No matter what the circumstances, it still felt weird.

Tatsuki nodded after each of my sentences. I tried to avoid eye contact knowing that she might know something else about me that I really didn't want anyone to-

_**'Tch. That's not very nice, Ichigo.' **_Shiro started laughing. I did my best not to roll my eyes, but they still twitched. _**'What're ya waitin' for? She's gonna find out and if it ain't from ya she'll be pissed.'**_

She'll be pissed either way, but sadly, Shiro was right. However, I could see the sun setting out from the corner of my eye which meant we only had a few good minutes left before Shinigami came to get Tatsuki.

"Ichigo, I only have a few minutes left," Tatsuki recapped.

I put my hands on her shoulders and forced her eyes to stare at mine. I wanted her to know I was serious, I won't let her die. "When they come, go without a fight. I will follow you, I will protect you and I won't let you get hurt."

Tatsuki looked like she was willing to protest, but she just nodded instead.

I actually didn't really care if she believed me or not. I was going to save her, then we'd got back to Karakura town, find her family and she would live out the rest of her life like she was supposed to.

_**'Cute, Ichigo. Real cute,' **_Shiro cackled.

_'Why do you always have to be on my back?' _I snapped.

_**'Because that's where a Kin' sits, on his horse's back.'**_

_'I- uhh… Right…' _Damn it. I set myself up for that one and Shiro knocked me right down. But, thinking back on how I used to treat him, I guess it really was no surprise that he wanted to poke fun at me.

"Ichigo, how are you going to sneak out," Tatsuki asked, bringing me back into the present. She brought up a good point, how was I going to follow her?

_**'Leave that te me.'**_

I trusted him. "Don't worry about that Tatsuki, it's under control.

"But what are you going to-"

"Arisawa, it's time."

No, not Chad too. I turned to my right and sure enough Chad stood there, Shinigami robes and all. Eight white robed Shinigami stood behind him, each with a staff in their right hands. I recognised those staffs as the ones they connected to the red collar that was around my neck… the same collar that Chad was holding.

I took my eyes off of Chad and turned to Tatsuki. A tried to smile, but the pain wouldn't fade from my heart. Damn the Soul Society, damn it all to hell! They took me away from my home, forced my friends into becoming Shinigami and are now punishing those whose hearts have already been broken.

_**'Ya're quite the poet there, but ya're correct Ichigo.'**_

'_What do I do next?'_

_**'Bid Tatsuki good bye an' walk up the stairs to as high as you can get before they leave.'**_

I mentally nodded before giving Tatsuki a small outside nod. She turned away from me and begun walking over to Chad. I didn't dare look, but I could still hear him click the collar on. I started making my way over the stairs leaving the noises of the real world behind so I could focus on Shiro.

_**'Walk a little faster.'**_

I complied, not even caring that I was following someone else's orders. The fear of how much control he had over me had vanished as well. I could even feel my body shake from hatred. However the only thing I could really focus on right now was my sudden lust for battle. I wanted to see the fear in my opponent's eyes, I wanted to feel their blood on my hands, and I wanted to hear the snap of their bones. I knew it was wrong, but I just didn't care. It was me they were fucking with and I was going to make them regret it.

_**'Here's perfect Ichigo.'**_

I stopped walking, but continued facing forwards.

_**'When I say so jump. And don't freak out when ya lose control, it'll slow us down too much to run past them without their notice.'**_

That meant Shiro was going to take control.

_**'Get ready,' **_he ordered.

I swallowed.

_**'Jump.'**_

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**Okay… so I made it a cliff hanger…**

**Please review and more will come next Tues!**


	5. Chapter Five: Blush

**Y'know, the whole point to a story is that there are some things you don't know. I find it absolutely hilarious that most of the reviews I got are questioning the new Head Captain. (Not that they're bad because I enjoy reading any review!)**

**I meant for it to be a surprise, and a secret because evil authors like me want to save the best plot twist for last.**

**;)**

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Losing control over my body was a lot like dreaming. I could feel my body move, but it was something in my mind making it go, not me. Everything had turned dark and hazy, kinda like looking at the world through the reflection on a black car.

Also, with the speed I was going I thought the world was going to rush by in one quick blur, but instead it just froze. Chad stood completely frozen behind the eight Shinigami. The eight stood in a circle around Tatsuki and she stood with a sad expression facing forward.

It reminded me of Rukia. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought about that before! This was the same tower Rukia was kept in, the same bridge I had first confronted Byakuya and the same situation she had once been in. I had once saved Rukia from being executed, but clearly that meant nothing to her anymore.

All at once the haze vanished and I woke up from the dream. I was surrounded by glowing blossoms on a sakura tree, hundreds of sakura trees.

I walked forward with caution and peered through the trees. What I saw took only a second to recognize, it was Sokyoku hill.

_**'Well, that was surprisin'ly easy,' **_Shiro stated.

_'What's that supposed to mean?'_

He laughed. _**'Ya take everythin' so seriously Ichigo. Just relax why don' cha?'**_

'_I don't understand! How the hell can I relax? Tatsuki is on trial and the entire Seireitei wants me DEAD!'_

I felt the harsh sense of pain the instant his hand struck my cheek. I nearly fell over sideways, but it wasn't too hard to catch my balance. I went to bring my hand up to rub the abused flesh, but Shiro's hands instantly caught my own.

I could've sworn I was growling, but I was focused more on the heat building up in my cheek. Was it turning red? Fuck it, I don't really care. The fact remained that I had just suddenly been slapped and there was an uncontrollable fire burning up inside of my stomach making it harder to resist retaliation.

_**"Are ya done?"**_

"You're not being serious, are you? You just hit me and yet you're asking if** I'm** done?"

_**"Fine, allow me da rephrase my question," **_Shiro growled, his eyes turning frighteningly cruel, _**"Are ya done bein' an idiot?"**_

Me? I'm the one being an idiot? When did I ever..? Oh, I was panicking… Shit. Judging by the smile on Shiro's face he had caught onto my realisation. I closed my eyes. There was no possible way to explain how stupid I felt right now.

I couldn't feel the pain in my cheek anymore, but I could still feel light heat. Oh god? Was I blushing? My eyes flashed wide open only to be greeted with white. The warmth had been transferred directly to my lips as soon as Shiro placed a kiss on them.

Just when he was about to draw back, I shoved my head forward in order to try and savour this awkward, yet, amazing moment of my life. Yeah, fine, I'll say it. I love him.

**_'Ichigo.'_**

I frowned, the fact that he had returned to 'that voice inside my head' meant that this moment was over.

**_'If ya wanna save yer friend, go now. Grab 'er then get the fuck outta there.'_**

_'I got it.'_

I took a deep breath. Although I was good at it, Flash Step wasn't one of my best techniques. I knew that if I wanted to save Tatsuki I was going to have to move as fast as Shiro did before, but I wasn't sure I was going to be able to pull something like that off. Sure maybe it'd last a few seconds, but that wasn't anywhere near long enough for me to save Tatsuki.

_'Uhh… Shiro..?' _Here goes nothing.

_**'Yeah?'**_

How do I say this? _'Well… it's just- you're better at flash step than me and… you'd probably have a better chance at doing this than I would.' _And there went nothing. I could picture it now. Shiro would start laughing, then he'd make some comment on my intelligence and finally he'd make me do this on my own.

_**'Ya want help?' **_he chuckled. _**'Sure.'**_

_'…What?'_

_**'Did ya think I'd say no?'**_

_'…no comment.'_

He just laughed. And now that I really listened to it, his laugh wasn't as terrifying as I used to think. Sure, it would have driven any sane person mad, but then I guess I really wasn't all **that** sane anyways. I've seen too much of the truth to ever go back to where I used to be.

I started to hear voices and my mind snapped right back into reality. I turned to see what was happening only to be met with a face full of pink… again. I slowly reached forward and even slower moved the sakura blossoms out of my way. I could see Tatsuki and Chad nearing the end of the bridge as well as a few Shinigami that had showed up. Amongst the Shinigami was Rukia, Orihime, and a few captains whose faces I remember, but I couldn't put a name to the face.

_**'Whenever ya're ready Ichigo.'**_

I nodded both mentally and physically. It was then that I noticed the black tendrils of Shiro's take over. My vision became blurred and dark again, but I was willing to ignore that because I knew it wasn't a gesture of war, it was a matter of trust.

The instant my control was lost was the instant the time froze. Shiro jumped over the trees and landed on the other side with a strange grace. He ran past the captains and over to Tatsuki, ripped the collar off of her neck, took her in his arms then ran down to the ground below as if he was running on invisible stairs.

It was obvious who had the mastery of Spiritual Pressure here and it definitely wasn't me.

"Ichigo?!"

I thanked the gods that Shiro remained quiet, though this all meant I would have some explaining to do. There was no doubt in my mind that a mask had formed on the left side of my face, even though I couldn't see or feel it, it only made sense that that had happened.

"What's going on Ichigo? Answer me damn it!"

'Later,' I thought, 'just as soon as we get you to safety.'

Tatsuki eventually stopped demanding explanations and Shiro eventually begun to let go of his control. He ducked into an alley way of sorts and peered past corners to see if Shinigami were coming. It didn't take me long to figure out what he was doing before he handed control back to me and I took Tatsuki straight to the sewers.

"It smells, Ichigo," she complained with a bit on humour in her voice. I set her down against a wall where the water couldn't reach her then sat back and laughed.

However her semi-terrified expression brought me to a sigh. "Just ask."

Tatsuki's face appeared to make her look as though she was caught off guard, but her sudden avoid of eye contact told me she knew what I meant. Tatsuki shoved herself up straight then moved her gaze to my face as if searching for the very thing that had caused her to act this way. She was searching for the mask.

"I know what you saw," I said, my voice declaring more anger than I had meant it to.

"What was it?"

"A mask."

"Hollow's?"

I nodded.

"Why?"

"Maybe to save my ass?"

Tatsuki scowled, but Shiro laughed.

**_'Keep goin', ya're doin' great!'_**

_'What do you want me to say?'_

**_'The truth. That ya've got a hollow half an' that yer workin' with 'im just like ya work with Zangetsu.'_**

_'Okay.'_

"That's not funny Ichigo!"

"Okay, fine. The mask that you saw was from my hollow half, Shiro-"

"Shiro?" Tatsuki questioned.

For the love of- "Yes, Shiro, just like Zangetsu he's got a name! And just like Zangetsu I'm working with him!"

That was when the biggest realisation yet hit me harder than a ton of bricks. Where was Zangetsu?

It was silent, for a long time. Tatsuki just sat there with a look on her face as if she was sitting next to a bomb. It remained noiseless until she broke the quiet.

"Zangetsu is your Zanpakuto, right?"

Though the question was a little off, I nodded.

"I know where it is."

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	6. Chapter Six: Zangetsu

**I seemed to have caught writers block… I have an idea, it's just I need some things to lead up to that… xD**

**You don't need to worry; I'll keep updating, but if things seem to be trailing off into now where, please let me know!**

**And also, if you have any ideas, ANY AT ALL, I will be very grateful if you would leave them in a review.**

**Thanks!**

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Tatsuki seemed to be staring off at nothing again. She had been doing this for at least the past hour, and trust me when I say it's nearly impossible to get her back on track, but I had to get her to focus. The fact was, she knew where Zangetsu was and that meant my Zanpakuto hadn't been destroyed.

"Tatsuki," I softly called. Her eyes refocused themselves, but only briefly enough to scan the walls before spacing off again.

I closed my eyes, suddenly finding it really hard to resist yelling.

"Tatsuki!" This time I shouted. Her head snapped up to look at me, the fear I saw suddenly didn't seem to matter. I needed my answer, I needed it now! "Where is he? You said you know where Zangetsu is. Where is he?"

"Uh… Well, umm…"

I scared her. Sorry.

"Your Zanpakuto was given to Mayuri to be tested, but when the testing started your sword made everything go haywire. The Zanpakuto was given to the head captain and it remained in his office for as long as I can remember."

"So it's still there?"

"Yeah… at least, it should be. I've been locked up for about a month… so unless they decided to get rid of it…"

She trailed off into a mumble, but by now I had stopped listening. I turned to Shiro and asked, _'You used to be a part of Zangetsu, right?'_

_**'Yeah. I know where yer goin' with this and no, I can' sense his presence.'**_

My heart sunk. If Zangetsu's presence was gone, did that mean-? But of course, Shiro had an answer for that too.

_**'Don' get yer pants in a knot. Just 'cause I can' sense 'im doesn' mean he's dead. If the blade is still intact, all ya have to do is touch it and it'll turn te Shikai again. We'll have Zangetsu back in no time.'**_

I nodded to Tatsuki and Shiro as well, but kept my smile on the inside. However the smile vanished whenever a second thing occurred to me. _'When Zangetsu's back, doesn't that mean you'll be suppressed again?'_

I could sense his smirk. _**'Glad to know yer concerned.'**_

I hid my blush.

_**'******__An' ta_ answer yer question, no. My power grew within the past eight years. As fer Zangetsu, he lives to make us stronger an' tha's fine with me.'

'He lives to make us stronger…' I repeated that to myself. Being stronger was good, sure, but what would be the point if there was no one to protect? Well, since my friends were no longer around… Ha! What was I thinking? I'm protecting myself aren't I? And I'm helping Tatsuki.

Then there was also Shiro… and soon Zangetsu.

"Ichigo…" she softly sighed. "What do we do now?"

I returned my attention back to the small black haired girl currently sitting against the wall in front of me. She put up a good question, but I held the obvious answer. "I'm getting Zangetsu, going to the Senkaimon and getting us both out of here."

Tatsuki, for the first time since sunset, smiled.

"We'll be under the cover of darkness and have at least another four hours to go until sunrise. If everything happens smoothly, then we should be out of here in time for you to see your family in the morning."

"Yeah," she quietly cheered. Tatsuki stood up and together we walked down the maze-like barracks of the sewer.

I was a little surprised when she started leading the way. Shortly after she explained that she was once part of the Fourth Division. I had already known, Hanataro being the one who told me, that the Fourth Division had the outline of the sewers burned into their memories, but I didn't deny her the chance to boast a little bit about knowing something that I didn't.

We travelled for a little while in silence, as suggested from Shiro to me and me to Tatsuki. Our footsteps were soft and we walked slowly to muffle them further. Suffice to say, it was quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

It also helped to walk in silence because of sudden Shinigami appearances. We could hear their feet smacking the ground as they ran or we could hear the echo of their voices. We also sometimes stopped to listen to the voices if we heard something that might be important.

_**'Those idiots should learn teh keep their mouths shut.'**_

_'Maybe, but if they did we'd never learn anything. Right?'_

Shiro just smiled.

Tatsuki and I pushed ourselves up against the wall of a nearby corner. Voices that had been muffled a moment ago became clear as our walking stopped.

"…urosaki." One of them finished stating. It was a male.

I smirked taking an odd pride in being the first one mentioned.

"Yeah. They just confirmed that he left the tower. Damn that bastard's fast." A rather deep voice, but it belonged to a female.

"Mayuri predicts he's going to Division Six's barracks and that he might try to reach out to the Kuchiki's because of the lieutenant and the captain that lives there. The Head Captain has ordered-"

"I know Tatakau! I heard from lieutenant Abarai, the same time that you did, that we're to protect that area…"

From that single conversation I now knew that Renji was still alive, an entire division was occupied in protecting the far side of the Seireitei and strawberry was still the worst name for a boy to have… (If you don't get it, Tatakau means Fight and Ichigo means Strawberry.)

We stood in silence until the very last footstep was heard. That was when Tatsuki turned to me, waved her hand towards the left and we walked off in silence once more.

After a few more minutes we heard a cry. It was a scream filled with the most agony I had ever heard. It came from in front of us and despite Tatsuki's protests I went down to see, then immediately regretted it.

Flashes of orange and red flames greeted us on the walls. Distorted shadows stained the areas black where fire couldn't reach. Sounds of screaming and crying could be heard from every direction. I dared turn the corner for a mere second only to find a gruesome sight.

Blood stained everyone and everything. Fire boiled the blood and burnt anything the blood didn't touch. Ashes of burnt bones lay like carpet. Men wearing Shinigami robes held whips forcing other Shinigami to boil and burn and melt repeatedly.

"Wha-" I could feel the heat burn into my throat. "What is this?"

Tatsuki took hold of my arm and pulled. I only half ran behind her as my legs were still half immobilized. (This being caused by what I had just seen.) I watched the fire disappear behind several familiar walls. Tatsuki waited until there was absolutely no trace of orange left before she sat us both down. I was in shock, but she herself was panting.

"What was that," I questioned. My heart was pounding and the blood in my ears boiling.

"Exactly… what it looked like," She gasped. "Torture."

"Torture? Why!?"

Tatsuki shivered. Her hand traced the sleeve on her upper right arm from obvious anxiety. A trace of blue appeared on her cheek, later gathering into a blob of water and rolling down off her nose. "It's where they put Shinigami that refuse to listen. Those who question their orders, who speak out of line… who deny that Ichigo Kurosaki is a monster."

My heart nearly stopped, though I could hear it beat quite clearly in my mind. I couldn't explain it. There was something boiling my insides, turning my emotions into hate, and mocking me from the back of my mind for being so weak. It was making me hunger, but… I still just couldn't explain it. As for what Tatsuki had just said… I was waiting for an explanation on that too.

"It's where I was for five years," she screamed, or at least she would have if we weren't trying to hide. "They took me to the Shinigami academy who in return told me Yoruichi and Kisuke couldn't be trusted. They beat me until every last ounce of free will was drained. And I wasn't the only one. Several people where all there, all undergoing the same 'training', all learning to be perfect soldiers. I was released a month after I started, that's how fast they could get you to break. From there I was put into the fourth division, then the sixth and then the second. In the second is where I learnt about where you were, locked away with all of your powers drained. When I asked why, I was told simply that you were a monster and never to bring it up again. I then asked Renji who denied knowing anything. Then I dare asked Rukia, who replied with the crap about betrayal. The next day she stood beside my captain as she ordered my torture."

Rukia did what?! "That can't be true. No… Rukia would never… and Soi Fon? Ordering torture?"

"It's true, every last word." Tatsuki lifted her sleeve, revealing a long and thick mark. "I'd show you more, but my dignity would never allow it."

"Th- Then…" My words were being drowned by the rage threatening to leave my lips. I swallowed then punched the wall hard enough for my fist to bleed. "I need Zangetsu. Now."

Tatsuki nodded. She pointed down yet another hallway before wiping away her tears and taking off in a run. She was determined to get out of here just as much as I was to kill the bastard who turned the Soul Society into this.

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**Just one more shove and Ichigo's cracked. x3**

**Alright… that was a rather dark chapter and I'm here to warn you it only gets darker.**


	7. Chapter Seven: My Illusions shatter

**I'm not sure if you all caught on yet or not, but just in case you haven't.**

**_'Shiro talking in Ichigo's head.'_**

_'Ichigo and Zangetsu talking in Ichigo's head.'_

**_"Shiro talking out loud."_**

'Ichigo thinking.'

"Anyone talking."

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We came to a long stretch in the sewers which had hardly any light or corners. Tatsuki said this part had no patrol what-so-ever because only the fourth division knew about it. She also said it was safe to run because no one would hear us and so that's exactly what we did.

It had taken about five minutes, but right about then I had begun to notice the change in scenery. The walls were becoming more metal-like versus the bricks I had been used to. It was a useless question, so I didn't bother asking Tatsuki why. The last time we spoke she had said we'd be in the Head Captains office within the next five minutes and that was four minutes ago, which meant we were exceptionally close.

"There!" Tatsuki shouted, pointing to a ladder as she did so. We both came to an immediate halt in order to turn towards the wooden bars. "This will lead us to the room left of your Zanpakuto. All we have to do is sneak in, grab it then sneak out."

"I don't like running around like thieves…" I unintentionally thought aloud.

"I don't either, but in our current situation there's not much else we can do."

"I know."

Tatsuki gave me a gentle shove to the side then grasped one of the bars on the ladder. She let her weight hang off of it for a few seconds before deciding it was sturdy enough to climb. I let her get six bars above the ground before I begun to climb too.

"Yo, Tatsuki," I whispered, breaking the silence.

"Hmm." was her hushed reply.

"I was thinking, you and I have probably been awake since early this morning. After I get Zangetsu is there some place that's safe where we both can go?"

"Yeah. We'll talk later, from here on it has to be complete silence."

I nodded, though I knew she couldn't see me. However I assumed that my silence would qualify as an appropriate answer for her.

When we reached the top of the ladder the room we came up in wasn't anything like I'd picture it to be. I had the image of old grey walls hosting dust and spider webs… not anything so girlish! There was pink everywhere and not a speck of dirt in sight! Pink stuffed animals where lined up on pink shelves with pink books on other pink shelves. The floor was pink, the desk was pink… hell! It reminded me of Karin and Yuzu's old rooms, but I quickly shoved that thought away. I could worry about family later; right now I had a job to do.

Tatsuki pointed to the door (even that was pink) and so that's where we headed. Tatsuki slid the door to the side just enough so that we could see, but not enough to be noticeable. She waved afterwards and opened the door fully in order to walk out… into another pink hallway.

I rolled my eyes and reflexively swallowed the spit that had gathered in my mouth. We turned the corner, opened the bright pink door and walked inside. Sitting in the middle of the room was a huge pile of Shikai released Zanpakuto that spread up to the ceiling. I really wasn't going to have to look through all that was I?

"Ichigo…"

The call came as an echo making it relatively creepier than it should have been. But nothing more than joy washed over my body as I recognised that voice faster than almost anyone else's. It belonged to Zangetsu.

"I'm here Ichigo."

My eyes instinctively closed. I could feel my hand twitching from the sense of power I was receiving. If not strengthening then this feeling of power might have even felt...

**_'Mmm… feels good doesn' it?' _**Shiro purred. I could suddenly feel his hot breath run down my neck, it sending the slightest of chills down my body. His hands appeared on my shoulders before sliding down my arms to mimic my current position.

Good, that was the word. I nodded underneath him, whether Tatsuki saw or not I didn't care.

**_'Can you hear 'im?'_**

_'Yeah.'_

I sensed Shiro's smile. **_'Tha's good. Now lift yer righ' arm an' call back ta Zangetsu.'_**

Without question, I lifted my right arm. My mind searched for Zangetsu's presence as well as his voice. I gently called his name, and then waited for a response.

In an instant my body was met with a wave of pins and needles, all of which spread from my heart throughout. Tatsuki smiled, Shiro grinned, and I smirked before gently tightened my grip on the bandage wrapped hilt of my Zanpakuto.

_'It's been a while, Ichigo.'_

"It has, Zangetsu." I said both aloud and in my head. I beamed with pride down at my Zanpakuto, simply proud to bear host to such a magnificent sword.

"Well, well, well…" The voice came from behind me. It was a honeyed voice, amusement and childishness evident from within it.

My head turned first, my body following after. My eyes felled apon the unfamiliar face of a little girl. Her hair was white, not as white as Shiro's, but still white and was held back by a pair of strange black goggles. Sheathed beneath a robe was a Zanpakuto and covering her Zanpakuto was the Head Captains robes.

"It looks as though we finally get to meet, Ichigo." She giggled. "I mean, we've met before during your treatment injections but-"

"W-Wai-ait, my wha-at?"

"Oh! That's right! It's okay if you don't remember; your mind was always a crazy one."

"You bitch! What the hell are you talking about?!" I turned desperately to Tatsuki. "What is she talking about, Tatsuki?"

"Ichigo."

I turned back around. My eyes met hers and I couldn't believe it. Tatsuki, all grown up and proud, stood in the hallway just a little ways behind the girl.

"I'm standing right here," she finished, as if I couldn't see that…

But it was impossible! Tatsuki had been helping me this entire time! She couldn't be the one standing in the doorway behind that little girl! "What the hell is going on?"

"Tell me Ichigo," the little girl spoke again, "How long have you been trapped in the Seireitei?"

"Eight years-"

They shook their heads. No? What did they mean, _no_?

**_'Ichigo, ya've been here fer a lot longer than that.'_**

_'But you said-'_

**_'No, Ichigo, I had said that I've grown stronger in the past eight years. I had thought you'd known. You've been here for-'_**

"-two hundred-" The little girl and Shiro started speaking at the same time.

**_'-years.'_**

"No!" I screamed in panic to both of them. "That can't be true!"

"I'm sorry, Ichigo, but it is," Tatsuki, the real one standing in front of me, sighed. "I once helped you to escape, which would explain why you're seeing me right now. The torture, the fourth division and the stories of you being a monster are all true."

"Once Tatsuki and you had made it up here, I came alone and took you and Tatsuki to meet the same person that you have met previously for all the past twenty year jumps. Normally your medications last for twenty years, why they have suddenly weakened to eight years I'll never know, unless you tell me. But for now you have to hand over your Zanpakuto and follow me."

"I've had enough of your nonsense," I hissed. "You're not touching Zangetsu!"

"Ichigo please, don't make me take it from you," the real Tatsuki whined.

_It?!_ I felt like snapping, _Zangetsu's not an it!_

My grip on the hilt tightened so much that my hand started to bleed. This feeling of real pain shocked my body; the image of Tatsuki behind me flickered. I HAD been hallucinating and they HAD been injecting me with drugs! …But '_why they have suddenly weakened to eight years' _might be the key to something very important.

She said that this went on in loops of twenty years. Maybe the sudden shift in Shiro's power weakened the dosage? 'So then Shiro** is** real, our power** is** real, he and I are real, Zangetsu is real, they fear me and they had a damn right good reason to,' I thought happily.

"Don't think for one second that I'll allow you to even look at Zangetsu, let alone take him away! I'm telling you, I'm leaving Soul Society and nothing is going to stop me," I barked, my anger shattering the Tatsuki hallucination.

"Really," the little girl giggled. I swear, if it wasn't going to be a problem I'd walk up to her and boot her in the head. "Not even if…" Now she had my attention. "…nothing was your own mother?"

My… mother?


	8. Chapter Eight: Monster released

**So basically below is a result of listening to eight of hours of Breaking Benjamin, Evanescence and Skillet. xD (Y'know the good ones like I Will Not Bow, Going Under, Monster... etc.)**

**Warning: This is where the character deaths really start to pick up. I don't want to spoil anything, but at this point really anyone (except Ichigo, Shiro and Zangetsu) can die.**

**Also, by the time most of you read this it'll be while I'm in the middle of my grade nine exams. I don't wanna feel like I'm begging, but it'd be really nice of you to all leave a review wishing me luck. I've got French, then Geography and finally Math. Ugh…**

**Thank you and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**. : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : .**

At first I thought I was hallucinating again, but even then it would have meant this had happened already. I carefully observed the light brown hair on the women making her way towards me. Her eyes sparkled happily in the moonlight, her nose was small, her face slightly round and her smile was missing, but she was still all there.

It was Masaki, my mother, who was walking towards me. There was no doubt about that. But something didn't set right in my stomach. Normally I would've been thrilled to see here… all I felt was hatred.

"Hello Ichigo," mom smiled her flawless white smile. Her soft hand gently reached out to touch my cheek.

I avoided eye contact. I couldn't bring myself to look at her. It was as though I was trying to avoid looking at garbage. "Hi," was all I could muster for a reply.

"It's been a long time, sweet heart," Mom's voice was starting to crack, as though a damn had been built and was now slowly leaking joy. She started crying.

"Mom," I said to keep her attention. I scanned my mind, but the best thing I could say was, "I've missed you."

She embraced me in a soft hug – apparently believing my lie - her arms gently rubbing lines up and down my back. "I know, I know… Oh my son, I've missed you too."

"I've never seen you cry before," I mumbled blankly. My voice had lowered to a whisper now. I couldn't bring myself to make it any higher.

Mom's hands left my back in order to wipe the tears from her own eyes. Her sobs had begun to spread through the room, but she just shook them off with a small laugh. "I'm sorry," she gasped, "I couldn't help myself. Y'know, Karin, Yuzu, me your dad have been waiting to see you for-"

"Karin and Yuzu, they're here?"

Mom's eyes widened before she slowly nodded. "We've got a small house here in the Seireitei."

"Does that mean..? Did Karin and Yuzu..? Dad..? They're all dead!?"

Mom's arms tightened around me again. Her breath was warm in my hair. "Yuzu, Karin and your father were all brought here when the agreement was made in Karakura town."

"Agreement? What agreement," I questioned.

"The destruction of Karakura town."

My tongue was stuck, I was speechless, I couldn't even make a sound, my heart beat three times as fast, my head spun, my ears rung, I felt like I was on fire… I angrily shoved mom away, forcing her arms to fall dramatically to her sides.

"Ichigo, please-"

"Please," I laughed, finding my voice just in time, "Please _what? Please don't get mad? Please come with me? Please forget about Karakura? _Mom… I- I-! Y- You, of all people, just sat by and watched as Karakura town was destroyed? Why?"

"Well… I- Because-"

"No," I interrupted. I decided I didn't need to hear this. "I don't care what you have to say. For all I know it could be just a lie. You are not my mother, not the one that died all those years ago and most certainly not the one I used to look up to."

That struck sadness into my mother's heart, I could tell by the way her eyes lost their enthusiasm. It was so unlike me, but that look of horror on my mom's face gave me joy. And it wasn't fake like laughing at your friends whenever they goofed up, no, this feeling was even better than that of a child's first Christmas, like when you open up a present you've been waiting five years for. This was the feeling of true happiness.

"Ichigo," Tatsuki quietly called. What? Was there a see-how-many-times-you-can-say-Ichigo competition going on?

"What do you want Tatsuki?"

She looked like she was ready to yell, but an emptiness filled her eyes and she choked on her words. I could tell she was broken, maybe she had been tortured, but nothing inside of me cared. I felt no sting of pain in my heart, no bonded sorrow, no weight on my shoulders. I felt great.

**_'Well aren'cha just a little Mr. Sunshine all of a sudden?'_**

I sensed Shiro materialize behind me long before his arms wrapped around my stomach. His hands were just at the edge of my robes, I could feel the warmth they held. It was hard to resist the temptation of his lips… the ones that were so close to my ear.

"What is that?" Tatsuki squeaked.

I blinked, could she see Shiro?

He chuckled, his hollow watery voice sending obvious chills down Mom and Tatsuki's backs. I observed their faces and smirked.

"Why are you smiling," My mother questioned. Was I supposed to look scared? I honestly didn't think so anymore. "What is that thing there with you? Why is it here?"

_**"Isn't it obvious?" **_Shiro returned while tilting his head playfully to the side. His voice echoed into silence, the room remaining quiet for the next few minutes. I could see Tatsuki about to speak, having finally brought up the nerve to do so, when the stillness was broken by an ear-splitting giggle.

All eyes, including mine, turned to face the little girl they all called head captain. Her childish features now replaced with a semi-demonic smirk.

"So, this is the secret behind the famous Ichigo Kurosaki's powers; an inner hollow?"

"A what-?" Mom questioned.

Shiro's eyes narrowed, but I was the one who spoke. "How did you-" My voice was cut off by a scream. I blinked; the head captain was gone. Damn, she's fast! I looked to my left; the bodies of both Mom and Tatsuki lay on the floor in a pool of their own blood.

"You're no longer useful," she stated to the girls, looking at them as if they were garbage! "I now have what I want."

"You bitch!" I screamed and my voice crackled from pure unfiltered anger. I could feel my own reiatsu beginning to flare as well as Shiro's grip around my waist tighten. I felt like a dog on a leash with steak dangling just out of reach, but I got the impression Shiro's intentions were to eventually let me go.

She laughed, a giggle, a twitter, a noise far more annoying than a mosquito buzzing in your ears. "Has anyone ever told you that you're cute whenever you're made? Ha!"

"Shut up!"

The girl smirked. "Tell me, Ichigo, do you know why I locked you up?"

For a moment, the world stood still. My anger temporarily paused by curiosity, Shiro's arms still firmly wrapped around me, my intentions still frozen on murder.

"It was because I was afraid of you. You were the only one who could possibly have enough power to defeat me; after all you were stronger than any captain in existence. So in order for my plans to come into play I was forced to wait until you were out of the way." She giggled, covering her mouth with a hand. "That rhymed!"

My hands shook with rage, Zangetsu slowly being raised into the air.

"That's when I killed Yamamoto," she continued after clearing her throat. We made eye contact and I could tell she was happy, just as she could tell I was furious. "I made up a false story about how your powers were dangerous and sat back as the Seireitei went into a panic in order to lock you up. Of course when some people refused to believe, all I had to do was break them and they'd follow me every order, no questions asked, like little ants to the queen of the hill."

"So then you purposely drugged me to make me hallucinate."

"Wow," she gasped over dramatically, "I'm impressed! You're catching on! Looks like that head out yours isn't empty after all!"

I growled. "Then it'd stop around every twenty years, that way when I'd escape it would constantly remind the other Shinigami that I was 'insane.'"

"You got it-"

"But it caught you off guard when it suddenly shortened to eight years, right? You knew I was strong, but you had no idea that deep within me, at the darkest part of my soul lay a cruel instinct, one that'd drive any sane person unto dark depths of insanity."

I had to grind my teeth together for a brief moment. Shiro had started massaging my stomach with his thumbs. I gave out a low hiss before continuing.

"You had no idea how far across the border between Shinigami and Hollow I went! I'm sick of being everyone's hero, I'm tired of sticking my neck out the furthest with no one but myself to pull me back in, I'm done being treated like dirt!" I paused for only two reasons. One, because my own grin had stopped words from escaping me. And two, because I wanted to enjoy the look of total shock on that little girls face before I smashed her into the ground. I laughed, "You wanted me to be a monster, Head Captain. Well, here I am!"

I didn't even have to say the word; my Bankai was released, my thick silver blade turning thin and black. Shiro's gorgeous laughter filled the air, his arms snaking up my chest. A wet like water, but sticky like goo, white substance crawled up my neck, down my legs and arms, finding any place it could and sticking to the skin like glue. My fingers coiled inward as black claws emerged from my nails, shoes and socks turned to bare skin as the same claws appeared on my feet too. My shirt dissolved revealing a hole just above thick muscles. I felt something tug against my hair, shortly afterwards realizing that it had grown about twenty five inches. Then finally I watched shards of a white mask reverse shatter onto my face, covering it completely and even adding slightly bent horns.

Momentarily I had expected the world to turn dark and hazy, but if anything it had all become clearer. In my ears I could hear my enemies heartbeat, with my nose I could smell the moisture on her skin, I could taste her fear, feel the warm flesh I was about to rip open, see her terror filled eyes as I began my assault.


	9. Chapter Nine: The Final Battle Begins

She was fast, but I was faster.

My hand swung for her neck, it swinging in a strangely distorted manner. The wall behind her crumbled from the furious reiatsu I had begun to release. As a result I threw her to the ground.

I landed a few meters away from her, glaring furiously once she stood. Reacting on hatred filled instinct, I rushed towards her.

Her hand took hold of her Zanpakuto's hilt much before I had started running, but my hand caught the blade before she even grasped the idea that I was there. I swung my arm on an angle then jumped back to my previous position as her blood poured out, crimson staining the cement below.

I was forced to freeze before I could give the finishing blow. An orange light had blinded me, familiar reiatsu also filling the air. The effects only lasted a few seconds and when it was gone the Head Captain's wounds had healed. Standing noticeably to my right was Orihime and to the far left were the Captains and Lieutenants of the Gotei 13.

"This is as far as you go," Soi Fon declared. I smirked, as if I'd let them defeat me. "Your rampage ends here, Ichigo Kurosaki!"

I hated the way she said my name, though it wasn't much of a surprise. Soi Fon had always treated me like garbage and now even more so. I ignored the chance of Orihime attacking me, but kept myself ready in case she did. I also turned to face Soi Fon. It gave me glee just picturing her death.

"Sting all enemies to death, Suzumebachi," Soi Fon called, announcing her attack.

She appeared at my side in a matter of seconds, but it didn't matter. She was still too slow. I jumped back, easily avoiding her obvious attack. My Zanpakuto blocked the one Soi Fon gave from above then shoved her across the pavement. Then I appeared behind her, swung downwards and shattered her pathetic weapon.

"Suzemba-"

I cut off Soi Fon's yell with a hand to her mouth. My fingernails, claws if you must, penetrated her skin in order to find a better grip. Once I had the best hold I could, I threw Soi Fon through the First Division's walls. It was an attack that wouldn't kill her, but she wouldn't be moving anytime soon either.

I felt the other's shock without even having to turn around. There was also a low mutter of "Damn it!" from Toshiro, and a loud cry of "Captain!" from Soi Fon's lieutenant, but that was all the reaction I got until the same lieutenant started whimpering in fear.

"Raise your head, Wabisuke." Izuru attacked from above.

"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki." Rukia, damn her, she was attacking slightly behind Izuru and also further to the right.

"Roar, Zabimaru!" Then Renji, he was attacking to the opposite of Rukia also slightly behind her just as she was slightly behind Izuru.

This must've been a basic combat technique, one that was easy to figure out. The only way to counter their movements was to block Izuru's attack, but in return my Zanpakuto would double in weight. It was the perfect plan, if they had attacked someone else. Both Rukia and Renji grunted in surprise and halted their movements. If they attacked they would have killed Izuru for sure for I had blocked his attack.

"Are you a fool Kurosaki," Izuru calmly questioned. "You know what my Zanpakuto's power is, correct?"

"_**He's aware, yes."**_

Izuru's eyes opened wide in shock. He was hesitant in turning but spun around nonetheless. Over his shoulder is where Shiro stood, hidden in a building's thick shadow.

"Reveal yourself!" Rukia shouted, the usual panic returning to her voice.

"_**Ya're in no position tah be makin' demands, Miss Kuchiki," **_Shiro sneered.

"Never mind that," Izuru intervened, "What did you say? _He's aware?_ What do you mean by that statement?"

Shiro slowly made his way out of the darkness; it was just like him to make such a dramatic entrance. The moonlight slowly crept up his leg revealing how white his shihakusho was. It made its way further up towards his head, his appearance being revealed faster as his pace quickened. Taking a final step towards his audience, the moonlight just about to touch his snow white hair, he disappeared.

His hand felt heavenly against my back, his fingers tracing random patterns across it. Laughter filled the air just as a few of the Shinigami that had gathered begun to notice where Shiro had moved to. It grew sadistic and gleeful once Izuru's fear revealed that he had noticed Shiro's new position. He had moved almost right beside him, except he was beside me.

"_**Yer very observant lieutenant, I'll give ya tha'. An' tah answer yer question, well, puttin' it lightly an' in a way ya'll understand…" **_His golden gaze finally met Izuru's; petrifying the Shinigami instantly also sending noticeable shivers down Rukia's back. _**"Ichigo's **__mine__**."**_

My heart beat faster; which wasn't saying much considering how slow its rhythm had become when the hole was placed in my chest. _That_ too represented something. By simply wearing this mask, it meant that I accepted _him,_ but this form, it meant… Well, it meant exactly what Shiro had just said. I had gone too far, took the wrong road, the one that lead somewhere I didn't want to be. Or I least, I thought I didn't want to be there. I honestly wasn't sure anymore. His hand felt felt heavenly against my back, or maybe I was just enjoying it too much? All these thoughts clouded my mind. It was impossible to tell who I really was!

All the voices, the thoughts, the fear, the panic… they all went away when his hand curled around my chin. _**"It's okay, yah can be angry, Ichigo," **_he whispered softly.

'I can…' I repeated to myself. The two words seemed to echo through my mind and with every repeat my irritation grew.

Rukia looked absolutely puzzled. Her eyes were filled with worry, her lips quivering with fear and overall her body was highly tensed.

Though it was Renji who spoke, "What is this?"

"_**It's not polite to refer to someone as this." **_Was that my voice? What that really **me** speaking?

Shiro laughed and the thoughts disappeared once again. His hands found themselves on my shoulders. I shifted backwards, self-consciously shoving myself into Shiro's chest.

I reached with my hand, my pale hand, to take hold of the mask around my face. I went to pull it off, but to my surprise it shattered. Simply shrugging it off I continued to say, _**"You idiot!"**_

Shiro vanished first, reappearing behind Renji. Renji turned around and had managed to block his assault, but mine came quickly after. Renji, just like Soi Fon, was knocked down cold but not dead.

I turned on my foot to face Izuru, Tensa Zangetsu extended and being pointed threateningly towards him. _**"Weight, speed, power, time and strength… That is what Tensa Zangetsu can manipulate. By being weightless, our speed increases. By our speed, time freezes. By our power, we receive our strength. And by those rules, even if the enemy can double weight, Tensa Zangetsu is-"**_

"Immune," Izuru finished. His eyes lay blank in thought. His face stuck dawned in truth.

"Tsugi no Mai," Rukia yelled from behind.

"_**Getsuga," **_Shiro shouted at the same time. Both fought to be the louder volume.

"Hakuren!"

"_**Tenshou!"**_

The dark shadow of snow clashed with the bright red Getsuga. Rukia's gulp was heard clearly through the open pavement field, the night had gone silent only broken by the crackling of Shiro's attack.

"Bankai, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi." Shiro's attack was blocked by pink petals, tainted purple in the dark light.

"_**Fuck it, Byakuya!"**_ I angrily cursed. With Tensa Zangetsu at the ready I dove straight for his heart.

Before anything was even remotely accomplished, a strong gust of wind came from my right. Being caught in the air I was also caught in the draft. The world blurred as I was flung through the air, all coming to an abrupt halt when I landed in something soft.

My curiosity as to what it was immediately became resolved as a hand ran through my hair.

"_**That was close," **_he muttered only loud enough for me to hear.

"_**Shi- Shiro-"**_

"_**Shh," **_he hushed, putting a finger on my lips. I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of my body against his and loving the way his voice hissed in my ear. _**"Relax Ichigo, drop yer fear an' get ready. Tha' head captain jus' released 'er Shikai. The real battle starts now."**_


	10. Chapter Ten: The End?

**I was in a good mood this week, so this chapter may be a little happier than the others… I hope you like it!**

**. : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : .**

"Reveal, Kazerokumaru," the Head Captain shouted. A pinkish reiatsu surround her and her Zanpakuto, the Zanpakuto changing. Its hilt was black with six golden rings hanging gently of the back. The blade was silver, nothing too special about it except for a gold line through the center. "You're finished Kurosaki!"

_**"Oh, really?" **_Shiro questioned mockingly. His arm tightened around my waist reassuringly, though it didn't help the feeling I had in my stomach.

Something wasn't right with the head captain's Zanpakuto. If it was a wind type, then why couldn't I feel it? I've always been able to feel the power of a Zanpakuto. Toshiro and Rukia's are cold, Renji's is brute, Byakuya and Rangiku's are free, but only darkness came from Kazerokumaru. It wasn't free like wind. So, was what blew me through the air her spiritual pressure? Not her Zanpakuto?

**Shiro's POV**

There were several things going through my mind right now. The main one being the incurable hunger I had for the orangette currently tucked under my arm. How I loved the feeling of his skin, the taste of his lips, the pleasure of being whole, something only he could bring me. But now wasn't the time. I had to focus on keeping that hunger at bay which would soon consume me if I didn't.

The next thing on my mind matched Ichigo's concern. Our enemy's spiritual pressure was great. After all, it did knock Ichigo off his feet. And my Ichi was great at hiding his fear from others, but I was in his head, there was nothing he could hide from me. He was terrified of losing.

_**"******__Ya_ should know by now, Ichigo. It is impossible fer ya to die in battle," I spoke, softly, in his ear, purposely breathing down his neck. _**"Yer holdin' such a magnificent sword an' ya've got me. Me an' Zangetsu won' letcha die."**_

I could feel waves of relief coming off of Ichigo. I smiled, glad that his resolve to fight had been restored but also a little happy that I myself had been the one to fix him.

_**"******__She's _comin'," I warned. Our opponent flashed from in front of us to behind, a trick that wouldn't work. My arm unhooked itself from Ichigo, much to my displeasure, and then caught her blade. I grinned at the fear in her eyes. How the hell could the old man be defeated by a shrimp like this?

"Fine then," the little bitch squeaked, "Bankai!"

It was then that pain took a hold on my stomach. I sensed a wound there, but no blood stained my body. I felt something hit my back, a person. I recognized his scent immediately, Ichigo, mixed in with the smell of blood. I turned to catch Ichigo. His lifeless body fell into my chest. Ichigo's blood stained my hands. His lifeless eyes didn't stare back at me.

She came for me next, but I didn't move. I didn't have to. Her Bankai clashed with my arm and blood poured out. Her hand to her shoulder cracked in half. My arm remained perfectly intact. I snarled. Rage mixed with spiritual pressure came out in waves.

_**"******__Getsuga _Tenshou," I couldn't have said that calmer. My attack came out in the shape of a crescent, white surrounded by blood red. She flashed to my other side preparing to strike again, but I had already planned ahead. Gathered in front of my finger was about ten percent of my spiritual pressure formed in a small ball using the same color patterns as my Getsuga. It was a cero.

The beam spread wide and hit her directly, the remainder of the attack spreading throughout the Seireitei. Most of it hit nothing but the air, but the small portion that hit ground destroyed a small village's worth.

I let scatter the reiatsu I had gathered beneath my feet. Ichigo and I dropped to the ground, him resting in my arms. I held him close. I wouldn't let him go, ever.

**Author's POV**

Captains and Lieutenants alike watched with shock as half the Seireitei was destroyed in a single blow.

Their old friend, Ichigo Kurosaki had been stabbed by the Head Captain's Bankai, a fatal wound.

A hollow, Ichigo's inner hollow sat with Ichigo in his lap. Tears fell from his eyes and landed on Ichigo's lifeless face.

Inoue Orihime approached the two with caution. She observed Ichigo's face and wondered if what she was about to do was pointless. Inoue got down on her knees and reached towards Ichigo's wound.

_**"******__Don't _touch him!" Shiro hissed, pulling Ichigo away. His eyes turned hateful as they glared deep into Inoue's.

"I'm not going to hurt him," Inoue protested.

_**"******__Fuck _off!"

"Let her help," Rukia insisted.

Shiro bit his lip to keep from retaliating. He didn't want to let go of Ichigo, but he knew the extent of Inoue's healing powers. Shiro himself could always try his instant regeneration ability. Both options had the availability of working or failing.

"You can trust us, we won't hurt Ichigo and by law-"

_**"Ya **won't __**hurt Ichigo!? Look what yer fuckin' Head Captain already did,"**_ Shiro spat angrily. His grip on Ichigo tightened and his mind was made up to not let the girls help.

A sudden cry of pain filled everyone's ears. Crushing reiatsu crept through the air causing every lieutenant to fall to their knees and every captain's knees to shake. The only one not feeling pain was Shiro. The only thing he felt was shock as he watched the sight in front of him.

Ichigo dug his elbows into the pavement, his chest lifted high in the air. His mouth was wide open letting out a fierce scream. His wounds seemed to peel off, the hollow and wounded hole covering up fast.

When all was done, Shiro was the first to his side. The orangette panted heavily, but managed to smile when he saw the hollow's familiar face.

Captain Unohana begun to silently make her way through the other Shinigami. Just as she reached the front line, she and all the others froze completely with surprise.

Ichigo and Shiro, plain as day, kissed.

Inoue's heart both shattered and melted. While she was heartbroken that the boy she had a crush on was currently kissing someone else, she was also happy for him. Ichigo didn't seem confused. He didn't seem angry. He was happy.

Sunlight peered over the nearest roof tops slowly breaking the night. Shiro lifted himself and Ichigo off the ground; their Bankai's fading with the moon. Both versions of Zangetsu returned to their backs.

Unohana continued to walk towards them. Her arrival only noticed when she cleared her throat. "If you don't mind, I'd like to take the both of you back to Division Four's barracks. After a battle like that, the both of you need plenty of rest."

Shiro looked unsure, cautiously taking in all of the faces that had surrounded him. Ichigo, however, nodded tiredly.

"You can relax…" Unohana directed to the albino. "Umm…"

"I call him Shiro," Ichigo informed.

On mention of his name, Shiro turned to look at Ichigo. Ichigo smiled before his eyes started to close. Just when he was about to fall, Shiro swept him off his feet and held Ichigo close again. _**"Lead the way," **_Shiro said in the kindest voice he could muster, though it still came out a little bit scary.

Unohana returned his gesture of peace with a small and kind smile.

**. : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : .**

**Not only is this a perfect ending to this story, it's not the ending at all! *evil smirk* Nope! I am having waaaaay to much fun with this story to let it end there! So, now I need to come up with another plot for the next few chapters (believe me I already have a few good ideas) and I need to write a lemon. Whether it is long or short, dark or good, happy or sad, it's up to you! :D**


	11. Chapter Eleven: Reunited With Shiro

**Ichigo's POV**

My eyes were open faster than I had even realised. My surroundings were dark, but still light enough for me to see. My arms moved freely to investigate what I was lying on, quickly finding a blanket and a mattress.

"Well look who's finally awake," the person standing in the door way said. She flicked on the lights which temporarily blinded me. Though that didn't matter, I recognized her voice… Captain… Unohana! Yeah, that was her.

"Umm… How long have I been out?" It was an important question, but I still felt stupid asking it.

"Two days," Unohana responded with a knowing smile. "To answer your next question… Yes. All of your wounds have been healed so you may leave."

"Oh," I replied, surprised, "okay."

Unohana pointed to a wardrobe. "Your clothing is in there. Get dressed and hopefully I don't see you here again soon."

I chuckled, "Right."

Unohana left as I sat up. I swung my feet over the bed then suddenly had the urge to crack my neck. My arms spread out wide above my head while I shook my head sideways. I felt three pops against my neck before it actually cracked. Then I stood up, letting my arms fall to my sides, and walked towards the wardrobe.

Inside I found my black shihakusho, my white socks, beige shoes, my Zanpakuto and… a white robe? I swapped my current paper clothing for the usual ones. Then while tightening the red strap around my upper body, my eyes drifted to the white robe. I took it in my hands, the robe falling out and extending to the floor. I couldn't believe what I saw! Etched into the back of the robe in neat black sewing was the First Division's symbol. It looked like the robe was my size, but there was no way that I could be… could I?

It was then that I heard a small clatter. I looked to my feet where I tiny folded piece of paper sat. Careful not to drop the robe, I bent over and picked up the paper. I unfolded it and saw a short paragraph written on the inside.

I walked back to the bed and sat down, my eyes not leaving the paper. I didn't recognize the hand writing, but that didn't really bother me. I read, _'Ichigo, if you're reading this note then that means you've recovered and are ready to leave Division Four's barracks. I am going to make this short as to not waste your time. You and your inner hollow have successfully defeated the previous Head Captain, Hana and did so under the witness of over two Captains. This means that by law the two of you are the new Head Captains of the Gotei Thirteen. Good luck and if you ever need anything feel free to ask your fellow Captains.'_

There was no name, not that it really mattered at the moment. Right now I was too busy freaking out over my sudden new status. And they said Shiro was going to be… too…- Hang on. Where was Shiro?

I took the letter and shoved it in my Shihakusho. Then I put on the Head Captain's robes, smiling with surprise as it really did fit me perfectly.

After I discarded the paper clothing I took to wandering the halls of the Fourth Division. I had been here once before and knew my way out, but I wasn't interested in the exit. I was making sure to memorize every stone one the floor, every crack on the wall, and every room in this bright place. Or at least that was my excuse. I was really looking for Shiro, obsessing over his health, hoping that he wasn't hurt.

Eventually I made it to the other side of the building. There was no sign of Shiro which was the good news and the bad. He wasn't here, which meant he wasn't hurt, but I now have the entire Soul Society (minus the Fourth Division) to search in order to find him.

'Alright,' I thought, 'where would I go after I finished a battle?'

The answer came to me before I had even started thinking about it. I left the Fourth Division's barracks after an awkward, "Glad to see you're better Kurosaki Sou-taichou!" from someone I didn't recognize. I explained that they really didn't need to call me anything fancy and just Ichigo would be fine, but they insisted so I just smiled.

I took to my right trying to remember the Seireitei's patterns. The sun had just reached the middle of the sky revealing all the colors of the Seireitei. I noticed that some buildings had become girly, and I didn't want to sound sexist or anything but pink and purple buildings did not suit an army.

Also while I was walking, I overheard a few conversations. One of them went like this:

"Can you believe it?" the first female exclaimed.

"Of course! I wouldn't expect anything less. Though I didn't expect him to be** that** cute," came a second voice.

"Don't start falling in love with a taken man, besides we have a job to do. Tonight we meet back here, okay?" the third voice commanded.

"Yeah, whatever," the second voice replied.

I passed the ally and that was the last of those voices. Occasionally I would bump into someone I knew or someone I've never met before and all of them smiled and greeted me as the Sou-taichou. The name was a little weird at first, but after the fiftieth time I started getting used to it.

After walking for half an hour I began to think I had gotten lost. However all doubts disappeared once I took a turn that led me right to my destination. The gates of the Sixth Division stood tall and proud just the way I remembered them.

I made my way towards the gates, the guards not moving an inch from where they stood. I was about to stop and ask if they'd let me in, but as soon as I came into their view they scrambled around and comically opened the giant wooden doors.

"Uhh… Thanks," I mumbled. God I'm gonna need time to get used to this…

As I took a glance around, I noticed that everything was surprisingly green. A stone pathway cut through dark green grass all the way towards a traditional Japanese styled house. The dark wood beams had been freshly coated in paint while the other paper frames stood out because of their bright color. A pond with clear water, cat tails, weeds and bright yellow flowers sat off to the left of the house. All in all it seemed peaceful, but I knew what this division was capable of.

I approached the doors of the house, everything except my footsteps remaining completely silent as I did so. My hand reached out and took hold of the side of the door. It didn't take much to open them, just small shove.

When I entered the first thing I noticed was immediately the many number of people in here. To the right of the door were Yoruichi and Kisuke, an unexpected but nice surprise. Directly in front of me sat Byakuya, his usual scowl present as he sorted through a bit of, which I could only assume, was paper work. In the left corner of the room stood Rukia, Ishida, Inoue and someone I didn't recognise just having a casual conversation. Then to the far off right, lying against the ground, were Shiro and Renji.

"Ah, Ichigo, it's lovely to see you again," Kisuke greeted cheerfully.

"I wish I could say the same," I mumbled. "What are you doing here?"

Kisuke made a disappointed grunt before flipping his trade mark fan in front of his face. "That's not very nice to say… Well, anyways, Yoruichi and I came to inspect what had the Soul Society on high alert and I guess it was because of you and that inner hollow of yours."

"Shiro," I stated quickly.

"Ah, yes, Shiro." I could see the glint of happiness suddenly appear in his eyes, he was definitely about to be… well… Kisuke. "I was wondering if you could settle a bet."

Suddenly I was being dragged by my arm over towards Shiro and Renji. After the throbbing pain of Kisuke nearly tearing off my arm disappeared, I was allowed a better chance to see what was actually going on. Renji and Shiro were both up on their arms and feet facing the ground. In other words they were both holding a plank.

"How long do you think you can hold a plank," Kisuke asked.

"Oh… umm…" I thought for a bit before replying, "An hour and two minutes… why?"

"He's got you beat Abarai!"

"Shut up," Renji hissed, his form shaking a bit with his voice.

Shiro just grinned. And I stared with awe at his completely still form.

"How long have they been at this," I questioned.

"They're coming on forty minutes now," Yoruichi answered from behind.

"And judging by what Kurosaki Sou-taichou just said; Shiro will beat Renji by two hours and twenty one minutes!" Kisuke exclaimed loudly.

"What? Where did you get that number?"

Kisuke smiled widely at me as he explained. "Well you see, you said an hour and two minutes and that times three is three hours and six minutes. Then I knew that Abarai can only got five minutes longer so-"

"I'm sorry I asked…" I interrupted.

'Kisuke took my time and tripled it…' I trialed off in my thoughts of Shiro and I, hardly noticing the minutes go by. Until...

"Shit!" Renji cried as he fell, gasping for air. I managed to come back into focus just in time to see Renji fall and Shiro laugh. The once tragic and terrorizing cackle had now become a prized possession. His laugh, Shiro's laugh, oh god I loved it!

I jumped when I felt an arm around my waist before I turned to the owner and smiled.

"Ewe, boy love," Renji remarked.

_**"Shut up Renji," **_Shiro and I said in unison. This caused my face to burn up, I was positive I was blushing.

The moment was interrupted by Byakuya when he cleared his throat. "Renji, Kisuke, Yoruichi… As much as we'd all like to visit, I'm positive that the two Head Captain's would like to settle into their own quarters and we should all probably leave them alone."

_**'At least he didn' say "Get out",'**_ Shiro commented.

I wasn't expecting our link to still be working. _'Uhh… Right,' _I responded, laughing a little.

_**"Thank you, we'll be off now," **_Shiro stated formally. He smiled though I noted shortly after he turned away that it grew into a smirk.

We walked all the way to the First Division, his arm remaining firm around my waist and his smile holding deviousness the entire time.


	12. Chapter Twelve: More

**Warning: Ahem. Young readers, avert your eyes.**

**Pfft, as if.**

**. : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : .**

I knew something was up. Shiro had not only been smiling for the past five minutes but his entire aura seemed to be cheerful as well. I raced through my memories searching for a time where I had ever seen Shiro smile like this. I came up short. Not too long after I started coming up with fantasies about what he might've done while I was unconscious… pranks… spreading rumors… you name it.

The silence remained a nuisance, one that neither of us was willing to break. Sure he showed me around our abnormally huge house, but there was still no conversation.

After another awkward minute he finally took me upstairs. When I turned the corner at the top of the stairs I saw three doors. One of them was open and inside I caught a glance of a bed before white completely covered my vision.

_**"****Ya scared me, Ichigo," **_Shiro mumbled blankly from my shoulder. His arms were tightly wrapped around me.

"What?"

_**"You could've died, idiot," **_he continued. _**"Ya let yer guard down 'cause I was facin' her. 'Cause of that ya let her slip right past ya under yer nose and she cut open yer stomach."**_

Before I could respond he added, _**"If ya tell anyone I was worried, I'll kill ya myself."**_

I chuckled. "Glad to see the old you is still in there."

He stepped back and his smirk reappeared. _**"Ya won't be."**_

Shiro threw one arm around my waist. My eyes widened and I cried in protest as he lifted me up onto his shoulder. "What are you doing?"

Shiro didn't respond, which really pissed me off.

"Put me down!"

_**"Alright."**_

Shit. I didn't expect him to actually _drop_ me. His arm was gone and I fell. I threw my arms out to try and brace my fall against the floor, but no such impact came. Instead I landed on something soft. Sheets, bed sheets, red be sheets covering the bed I saw earlier.

I could hear him laughing.

"What was that-?" I looked up and choked on my own words. _Holy dear fucking god HE WAS UNDRESSING!_ My eyes wandered all over. I stared at his shoulders, his arms, his hands, his stomach and the fucking muscles that littered him, (okay, Shiro's body was built, but it wasn't disgusting) and then finally I stared at the black cloth wrapped around his pants like it was some kind of sin. I wanted the damn thing off. _Now._

_**"I can see ya starin' y'know."**_

"What?" I replied as though his previous statement was the dumbest thing in the world.

_**"Don' give me tha'," **_he snarked. Very suddenly his hands were linked in mine and his legs straddled my hips. Then, at a speed just as fast, his lips slammed down hard against mine. The kiss was filled with tongue, teeth and apparently a war. Three minutes could've easily passed as we fought over the dominant position. When air was needed we gasped, when it got uncomfortable we switched positions, when I started to sweat he took off my shirt. It was brought to a halt when he pulled back.

"Why'd you… stop?" I questioned awkwardly.

Shiro gave me a maniacal grin. Little did I know that that was going to be the last clear image I had for the next few hours.

**Shiro's POV**

There was no doubt in my mind as to what I wanted to do. How, was another question.

Ichigo already had the begging look in his eyes and the pouting lips to go along with it. I doubted he knew what was going on in my mind, and if he did… Well, if he did he probably would have run away screaming. Heh. That'd be interesting to see.

I decided Ichigo had waited long enough, and quite frankly, so had I. My hands eagerly trailed his stomach, prodding at the sensitive spots I knew he had. He twitched and squeaked, a sight that made my hunger grow tenfold.

Finally my finger ended its long trail by harshly entering my orangette's pants. I easily found what I had sought out and to my great pleasure Ichigo was **hard. **And it felt like it might be hurting too. Well, how about I relieve my little Ichigo here, eh?

I swiftly tore off his pants and he let loose a rather sexy moan. Ichigo shuddered under the cool air I blew onto his manhood. I grinned allowing a short chuckle to escape.

**Ichigo's POV**

My entire body was shaking. _Was I really here? _He stared at me with those wickedly lust filled eyes. _Was __**he **__really here? Staring up at me, claiming me, loving me. Me? _His face, his hands, his mouth… all so close to my…

Heat. Tongue. Dizziness. Pleasure. The only five words… wait, four (?) I could comprehend as his mouth, oh god, as his mouth wrapped around my member. I moaned, growled, hissed and begged. Anything to get Shiro to do more. _More… please. Augh, just __**more.**_

Shiro's fingers pressed down against the skin on my inner thigh. I could feel my spine curl up wards as instinct told me to arch. My hands fought for a path to his hair. The silky stuff that felt amazing between my fingers.

Then suddenly the rush was gone, the dizziness soon following. My vision was blurred. My hearing, however, worked perfectly fine as Shiro hissed, _**"I want ya so bad, Ichi."**_

My hands slid from his hair to his hips. I angrily ripped off his pants before his hand pressed against my chest and shoved me back against the bed.

I felt pressure between my lips, then gentle movement as they parted. Three of Shiro's long and slim fingers slid into my mouth, the taste of salt and sugar following them. My tongue instinctively wrapped around his fingers, coating them with saliva while also sucking.

I entered a sort of mini-trance, until he pulled away, snapping me out of it. The next thing I knew something wet, obviously Shiro's fingers, were at my entrance. I swallowed, once, before all doubts were gone and he shoved one finger in, making me groan softly. When he added another I started to shake, and after he started a slow scissoring motion my eyes involuntarily shut and my face lit up with heat.

Soft, snake like and wet, his tongue, his lips and his teeth, all around my midriff. Anywhere that his mouth could reach, he sucked, bit and licked. I shuddered, moaned… hell, I even screamed when he bit down leaving a small trail of red.

I assumed when Shiro took his fingers back that he deemed me stretched enough. He grinned leaving a small purr at my ear before thrusting in hard, fast and without mercy. My head spun and I let out a cry before my forehead crashed into his neck. The pain burned up my spine, but something (was it Shiro?) told me it'd disappear soon.

And so, just as it nearly vanished, Shiro started moving.

Then came a rush so pure and filled with pleasure. He hit it, dead on, _that _spot. I exploded, verbally, making noises I didn't even think were possible. Though most of my words were gibberish, I didn't think either of us cared. I sure didn't. The buzz, the rush, the thrill spreading through my head was indescribable. It felt so. God. Damn. Good.

His other hand (demons, the both of them…) appeared on my hip squeezing and kneading until my mind fell apart. The pace picked up and the thrusting came harder. All I could think about was him, Shiro, my personal demon, my lover, my bloody fucking everything…

I practically begged for this to never stop, but I knew my climax was coming… literally. I mumbled out a few more words until I couldn't hold back anymore.

"Gah… Sh-Shi- I c-can't- I'm gonna-"

He silenced me with a kiss and that was all I needed to release. Shiro came a few seconds afterwards falling to my side after he pulled out.

I snuck my arms around him and Shiro did the same. His body loosened, his breathing soft and in my hair. I smiled and fell asleep smiling. I was wrong before, this is what felt better than anything.

Nothing felt better than this.

**. : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : .**

**Well… there's a first time for everything and this, my friends, was my first time writing a lemon. I tried to make it as entertaining as possible, but tell me what you think! :D**


	13. Chapter Thirteen: First Meeting

I sat on the edge of the bed, Shiro still sleeping behind me. My knees were tucked inside my arms, my head resting in the fabric of my pants. A gentle sob escaped my lips every once in a while. I would never admit this to anyone, but I was crying.

The window near the head of the bed was open allowing a soft, warm breeze enter the room. I had often worried about someone hearing me, but the empty courtyard proved my worrying futile.

After this wave of tears disappeared, being my third this morning, I took a glance out the window. Trees caught wind and blew softly, each of them black with the rising orange sun behind them. I couldn't bring myself to smile, but it really was a nice picture.

There was movement from behind me. Undeniably Shiro was slowly waking up. My tears had dried up well enough, but I still felt as though my face was red. I could say that I was embarrassed… and that someone had walked in to see us lying there. But Shiro knew me too well, would he really believe me?

As Shiro sat up, he didn't say a word. I didn't see him but I could sense his golden eyes gazing into the back of my head.

There was movement again.

I smiled at Shiro when he reached my side, but he didn't return it. His face didn't even bear his usual grin. I watched Shiro curiously as he crawled off the bed and hunted the floor for his clothing. His own body was still exposed, the sun giving it a beautiful morning glow. I then continued to stare as he got dressed, carefully avoiding my eyes, before he paused.

_**"****It bothers ya," **_he suddenly spoke, catching me off guard,_** "everythin' that has happened."**_

"What?" I gasped innocently. "What are you talking about?"

_**"****Don' play stupid Ichi," **_Shiro scolded. His eyes snapped at me, my smile gone instantly. Shiro was serious, dead serious, and his eyes were unnaturally depressed._** "An' save the smile fer yer friends. Ya can' hide from me," **_he added as an afterthought.

My gaze fell to my hands, my hair falling in my face. Shiro sat down beside me and I turned away. I didn't want him to see me, not like this. He wrapped his arms around me and I pushed away, but his grip remained firm. Shiro released one arm, when I began to shiver uncontrollably, hesitantly stroking my back in long, slow arches. I was willing to try and push away again, but instead I relaxed into the comforting heavenly touch of Shiro's embrace.

He then gathered my body into his arms where I tucked my head beneath his chin. _**"It's all right, Ichigo. Let it out."**_

Permission was given; I screamed, my fingers clenching his bleached clothing as I finally allowed myself to cry in front of another. "Mom's gone, Tatsuki's gone, that old bitch Hana killed them right in front of me. It wasn't fair, they didn't have to die! And now I'm supposed to sit here and accept the role as the leader of the place I've been fighting to protect my entire life? What am I supposed to do? I'm not a leader Shi!"

Shiro held me, and didn't let go. _**"We're here, in this, together. Do ya understand? We don' need anyone else. We'll train with the old man, get stronger and prove tah everyone we deserve this spot. Got it?"**_

I nodded and we stood, together, still in each other's arms. I moved my head to his shoulder where the last of my tears fell.

_**"******__Oh_ yeah, an' I ain't gonna let anythin' happen tah this tight ass of yers."

"Shiro," I whined, my face undoubtedly red. I squeaked, uncontrollably, as his hand appeared on my ass. His thumb moved up and down making me squirm. Before I could jump away his other hand pressed down against my back and pinned me against his chest.

_**"Feel better?"**_

"Uh huh." I laughed, still a little shaken, but I laughed, though I really couldn't help it, both his hands had started poking sensitive spots. I screamed wildly, like a little kid, as his hands trailed my bare chest.

_**"****Good."**_

"Shi- r- ro," I stuttered, loudly, "St- Stop! That tickles! Augh!"

**_"Tha's the whole point."_**

I moaned in frustration, my hands working to try and keep his away. He purred and traced my sides, and I laughed some more.

Shiro finally stopped.**_ "We've got a long day 'head of us,"_** he sighed, warm breath caressing my ear. **_"An' I guarantee someone's gonna call a Captains Meetin'."_**

He was right. Sure enough, ten minutes later, one of the Twelfth Division's messengers appeared to us as we were walking through the garden. She said Mayuri was calling a meeting. She also added a warning, "Captain Kurotsuchi's in a bad mood. I think he said he doesn't want to take orders from a kid 'weaker than himself.' Be careful, Kurosaki Sou-taichou and Shirosaki Sou-taichou."

"Thanks," I replied, "We'll both be fine."

The messenger disappeared.

I then turned to Shiro. "Shirosaki?"

_**"******__Oh,_ yeah," Shiro laughed sounding halfway between embarrassment and amusement. _**"Yer friends all came up with different names tah call me. Most of 'em were shit, but I liked Hichigo Ogichi Shirosaki."**_

"Creative."

Shiro laughed.

"So, how about that meeting? Ogichi?"

_**"******__Heh. _Yeah, let's get it over with."

Shiro and I took off. Neither of us led and neither of us followed. We flash stepped side-by-side, so close that I gained a sudden desire to take hold of his hand, but before that temptation could be fulfilled we arrived. I gently pushed open the doors and we entered.

'_Great,' _I thought while glancing around, _'We're the last to arrive.'_

_**'******__We took _less than two minutes tah get 'ere and were probably the last ones informed.' I fought the urge to jump. It'd been so long since I heard his voice in my head I almost forgot we could talk telepathically.

'_Uhh… R-Right.'_

I glanced around at everyone; most of them were familiar faces. To the right was Mayuri, Byakuya, Jushiro, Shunsui, then there was one I didn't recognize, and Toshiro. Then to the left was Komamura, one hidden in long black hair, Unohana, Soi Fon, Kenpachi and- "Dad?"

"Heya Ich-" He stopped, cleared his throat and then continued. "Morning Head Captain." His eyes then turned to Shiro. "Have we met?"

_**"Not technically, but we do know each other."**_

Dad nodded, "Right."

Know each other? I was about to question that, when…

"I was under the impression the two of you might've gotten lost," Mayuri jumped in. "How kind of you to grace us with your presence."

"Kurotsuchi Taichou you will show the proper respect when the Head Captains are present," Soi Fon snapped.

"Thank you Soi Fon, but I'll allow Mayuri to speak his mind. He is, after all, the one who gathered us all here," I replied.

"Yes, Sou-Taichou."

"Yes indeed," Mayuri spoke again, his voice filled noticeably with intended disrespect. I was beginning to hate him. "I wish to bring up a subject that must be apparent in everyone's minds. While we, the Captain of the Gotei Thirteen, have provided service to the Soul Society for many centuries and had to go through many harsh battles to prove our worth and many more to reach our current positions, you, a Substitute Shinigami, have suddenly gained power and authority over us all by killing our previous Head Captain after escaping from jail."

_**"Yer point?"**_

"My point? For goodness sakes! Am I just to sit back and take orders from a substitute and a hollow? The lowest of the low and a sworn enemy-"

"Mayuri, that's enough," I ordered, sounding more like a threat. "If you have a problem with following orders from Shiro and I, but not a girl who orders torture then what does that say about this council? Besides, Hana was killed by both me and Shiro in front of all lieutenants and captains of the Gotei Thirteen. I, as well as Shiro, both earned Bankai and have fought in numerous life threatening situations. We are more than what you think of us."

"He's right," Toshiro agreed. I smiled.

"And they both have faced my Bankai," Byakuya added. Shiro and I both laughed.

_**"****Right, right, there's truth to tha' too," **_Shiro snorted. I cleared my throat and our laughter died down, just low enough so we could still hear the others.

Komamura stepped out of the line. He asked, "May I inquire as to what's so funny?"

_**"Well, Byakuya throws out an excellent point. Ichigo and I have indeed both faced his Bankai. In those terms we have faced Zaraki and lieutenant Abarai as well."**_

"I wasn't aware that you… were alongside… Kurosaki when…" Komamura mumbled. Shiro and I smirked; it seemed all the Captains were finally catching on. Just as much as we were separate minds, separate entities and separate souls, we form one spirit.

"I'm sure we could discuss this all day, but I really think we oughta get to the point," Mayuri grumbled.

The amusement Shiro and I shared became shattered by this man's hopeless attitude. I received waves of anger from Shiro and I'm positive he was receiving annoyance from me. See? We complete each other.

"Please do," the long black haired girl glared as she shook her hair out of one eye.

"They are not worthy of their positions!"

"If you believe they are not worthy of their position then you have the option of taking it away with your own hands," Jushiro suggested. My stomach twisted, not in fear, but in something I was unfamiliar with, something new, something I liked… blood lust.

"I'll take either of 'em on, but I ain't interested in the position," Kenpachi joined in.

I rolled my eyes, _of course he would._

"That's absolutely…" Mayuri began, drowned out by his own thoughts.

"Well Mayuri?" I questioned, "What'll it be?"


	14. Chapter Fourteen: We meet in Battle

**Woo hoo! I'm super excited!**

**Ichigo: Why, exactly? Wait. Do I even want to know?**

**YES! Because I've wanted to write a certain fanfic for a while now, and I've finally figured out how I'm gonna do it! It's called The Hollow's Shinigami and it should be up in about a week or two.**

**Ichigo: Wait, The Hollow's what?**

**Shiro: Shinigami, igit.**

**It means that you belong to Shiro!**

**Ichigo: Huh? *pales***

**So basically, Ichi's got a secret love for Shi, but he doesn't want anyone to know. Meanwhile, Shiro is searching Ichigo's mind for his deepest, darkest secrets and happens to find that little bit of information. So, he uses that to claim the crown and become Ichigo's King.**

**Ichigo: …why is it always ME? What did I do to deserve this?!**

**Because you're such good story material! *evil laugh* Ahem… anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! ^_^**

**. : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : .**

"We meet, in battle, outside, now," Mayuri said. His vision was directed at both me and Shiro.

"_Both _of us?"

"Two Head Captains, one challenger. If the challenger wishes to take the position then both defenders must be dead," Toshiro explained.

'Great, thanks for the concern,' I thought, and then replied, "Thanks for clearing that up Toshiro."

"I guess I can't yell at you anymore for calling me by my first name." He crossed his arm across his chest then shut his eyes, like Toshiro normally did whenever I annoyed him.

"No," I chuckled, "I guess not."

"Whenever you're ready," Mayuri said impatiently.

Shiro glared at Mayuri while I turned to Unohana. "Prepare three beds. One of us, if not all, is going to need it."

Unohana nodded and disappeared instantly with her flash step. I turned back to face Mayuri and made the extra effort to stand at Shiro's side.

_**"******__Mayuri, _I'll make this clear as day. Neither me or Ichigo are going to try and kill ya, but the both of us sure as hell will come close," Shiro threatened, harshly. His hand slid in mine sending waves of his own blood lust up my arm. I shivered, but refused to let go even when faint images of a battle flashed about in my head. I blinked and quickly found myself shaking my head to get rid of it. (A/N: Normally I don't do these, but I have to for this one! My gym teacher always says "Clear as Mud" instead of "Clear as Day". How cool is that? xD)

"You alright?" Jushiro questioned.

"Yeah, just suddenly got dizzy is all. I'll be fine."

Halfway through Jushiro's nod, time froze._** "Ya sure yer alright?" **_Shiro questioned, his concern brining a soft warmth to my chest.

I looked around. "What happened?"

_**"******__Zangetsu _can manipulate time, remember? Now again, are ya alright?"

"Well, only if alright means seeing a battle before it happens, then-"

_'Correction, a battle plan,'_ Zangetsu intervened, scaring the shit out of me.

Wait... "What do you mean, plan?"

_'You both share an instinctual craving towards this battle and thus are picturing the many ways you two can win. That picture flashed before your eyes, Ichigo, and if you summon it in battle the both of you will momentarily exist as one.'_

I looked at Shiro and he looked at me. Shiro nodded, suddenly making me feel like everything depended on me once again. He gave me that all knowing look and I tried to smile, but it still didn't change how I felt.

_'Abandon your fear,'_ Zangetsu began.

_**"******__Look _forward," Shiro chimed in.

I remembered this, Zangetsu had told me once before, back when I was fighting Kisuke. Instinct took over and I joined in with Zangetsu and Shiro, reciting the old chant. '_Move forward and never stop. __**You'll age if you pull back.**_ You'll die if you hesitate."

_'Now go, both of you,'_ Zangetsu half ordered, and I noted being highly out of character. _'Defend the position you fought so hard to gain. Defend each other. Defend your pride, but do not allow it to alter your courage.'_

Shiro smirked, I nodded. "We'll see you soon, on the battle field," I waved off, "old man."

The setting around us came back to life. Jushiro's nod finished and Shiro and I started to take our leave.

Just before exiting the room, Dad's hand appeared on my shoulder. "You'll be alright, right Ichigo?"

I smiled, "Yeah, I'll be fine."

Mayuri cleared his throat and we continued making our way outside. I didn't notice when Shiro and I arrived earlier, being in a rush and all, but just outside the meeting hall was a giant wide opened field. Light green grass stood out across the rectangular field, pale sand patches littered across it. The grass arena was bordered by bush on three sides making the only exit the way we came through.

Mayuri flashed to one side and drew his Zanpakuto while Shiro and I took to his opposite, drawing out our own versions of Zangetsu.

I closed my eyes and tried to pull the images I saw earlier back into my mind. I placed all of my trust in Shiro that I wouldn't die while I stood almost defenceless in the middle of the battle field. I didn't move, at all. I knew Shiro would never let me die.

My focus remained in my head, even when my ears heard Shiro's blade clash with Mayuri's. I was determined to remain focused on my job. I hunted through thousands of memories, each of them leading to past battles rather than the one I was looking for. Until finally I crashed into a scene which was unrecognizable.

Mayuri was here, Shiro too and I stood a meter behind another me – which was pretty weird if you think about it. I, or the other me, took off into the air making Mayuri follow him… uh, me. Shiro and the other me switched places drawing spiritual pressure onto our… their blades. Then together we- they released Getsuga's bigger than I've ever seen, right at Mayuri! The two attacks struck perfectly at the center, cancelling each other out and wounding Mayuri efficiently.

My eyes, my real eyes snapped open, a golden blade greeting my return about an inch from my face. Shiro's Shikai was caught between two of the three blades Mayuri's Shikai sported. I jumped back and Shiro ran away, the both of us caught in the exact same positions that I had seen in my vision.

Shiro gave me a nod and I leapt into the air. Everything was instinctual as I dodged Mayuri's attack causing him to leap up after me. I felt a tug on my spiritual pressure and in return pulled back. My feet touched the ground at the same instant Shiro jumped. We had swapped places.

Our blades were already swirling with red and blue reiatsu, our power pooling together to form a dark purple color. I didn't know how, I didn't even care, but I was seeing through Shiro's eyes, racing through his mind, reading his every thought and allowing him to do the same to me. I saw things, lots of things, felt his emotions, learnt answers I to questions I didn't know, answered questions that he didn't know. We literally joined minds as we raced off to attack Mayuri.

Just like in my vision our attacks cancelled each other out and from the blinding light came Mayuri, torn apart and cut open, but not dead. Mayuri fell to his knees, unconscious and bloody. Unohana returned long enough to congratulate our victory, pick up Mayuri and vanish again.

My dad was the next to our side. His foot swung for my head, I ducked allowing the attack to continue towards Shiro. Shiro caught the foot and threw Isshin to the ground where he remained for a few seconds while I laughed.

Dad stood up again, this time his expression uncharacteristically serious. His hands appeared on Shiro's shoulders and he looked him sternly in the eyes while saying, "You take good care of him, you understand?"

Shiro smiled, _**"No worries Isshin, I will."**_

Dad let go of Shiro's shoulders, but then suddenly embraced him in a hug while crying comically on his shoulder. The other captains surrounded us paid absolutely no attention to Isshin at all. The only one who seemed freaked out was Shiro himself who now started at me with a what-do-I-do look on his face. I rolled my eyes and eventually got Dad to let go of Shiro, his eyes still over flowing with tears.

"Yup, it seems like the apple fell really far from the tree in this family," Shunsui remarked, his arms folded in his kimono's sleeves.

"I'd say so," Jushiro agreed.

I laughed a little, but then the situation kinda hit me. It wasn't a big realization, just a question. "So, what happens to Mayuri?"

"Well," the girl with the long black hair replied, she was kind of mysterious, "Mayuri has done that to Hana as well. Think of it as his initiation test, if you pass you gain his respect, if you fail you gain absolutely nothing more than a back talking, ignorant pawn."

"So we passed, right?"

"Exactly."

"So," Shunsui butted in, "anyone up for Sake?"

A few people jumped excitedly while others scolded those who jumped.

Then suddenly everything seemed to go quiet as arms sinfully wrapped themselves around my body. My eyes shot wide open just before Shiro whispered seductively in my ear, _**"Sounds like fun, eh Ichi?"**_

I turned red and everyone laughed.

We all shuffled out of the arena lot completely and utterly unaware of the eyes that had been watching us the entire time.

**. : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : .**

**Sorry about the cliffy, but at least you know there'll be more next Tuesday!**


	15. Chapter Fifteen: Surprise Attack

**Note: I haven't got a clue what Sake tastes like, so this is just a wild guess from the answers I got on Google.**

**. : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : .**

I couldn't believe it. Like, holy fuck, I was drunk.

Really, I didn't mean to get drunk, it just sorta… happened.

I was given a small cup of Sake and, the first sip I had, tasted a lot like really sour grape juice. After a few more sips the bitterness begun to fade and all that was left was a really thick, sweet substance that trailed down my throat with ease. Following every sip my head grew lighter and the sips grew larger as well. I would always tell myself the moment my cup was empty I was done, but strangely it kept getting refilled.

And now I was sitting, completely vulnerable to any girl around me, on a couch with a gorgeous fire dancing to my left. My eyes flashed to all the blurred girls. Orihime, Rukia, Rangiku, Nanao, Nemu… Momo… a girl...

After one shot I was laughing. After two shots I was dancing. After five I could no longer place one foot in front of another and needed Shiro to be my walking stick. He was thrilled. Shiro had kept his arm around my waist the entire time. I noticed that he barely ever took up his cup. Was he the one who kept refilling my glass? Bastard. What was he planning?

_**"******__Feelin' _okay Ichigo?"

His voice rang through my head like a triangle in a jungle… or something like that. "Tired…. I think… Maybe…"

_**"******__Need _another drink?"

"Fuck yes." What was I doing? Asking for _more _Sake?I was already too drunk to see more than five feet in front of me. What the hell was I doing? And yet, he handed me the filled shot glass, and I gulped it down faster than all the others. It was my seventh… or maybe eighth… and now I could see two feet less in front of me.

"Yo, Ichigo, get your ass over here!" It was Renji… damn it, shut the fuck up.

"No."

"No? Whadya mean no?"

"I mean, I'm drunk off my ass and fucking tired. No."

I felt a heavy weight crash against my right side. Renji's terrible breath smothered my nose and I could barely breathe. "C'mon Ichigo, ya hafta watch me climb this tree! I'm a fucking-"

_**"******__He_ said no, now piss off," Shiro hissed, but in more of a friendly tone. His arm tightened around me, almost to the point where it hurt.

Renji opened his mouth to say something, I could tell because the air suddenly stunk again, but he was cut off with a large explosion. The red head jumped to his feet and ran towards the source of the loud noise while another one went off in his wake. If the pain that had suddenly welled up inside of my leg wasn't enough to paralyze me, then the Sake definitely was.

I looked down at my right leg, shocked when I only saw half of it there. I hollered out in pain. A sticky hot feeling ate at the area just under my knee while my foot and toes were irresponsive.

_**"******__Ichigo_, can you hear me?"

_There was chaos, all around. Someone had just dived into a pool of water due to their robes catching fire. A few more had drawn their swords and were pointing them out past my sight. Shinigami had appeared everywhere._

"Shi..." that was all I could muster to reply, pain was still threatening to take over my tongue.

_**"******__Are _you all...? Shit."

_In the background I could hear someone laughing. And a few different voices screamed, "Protect the Head Captains."_

I swallowed, hard. "What is it?"

He didn't respond, but he didn't need to. I knew what Shiro wouldn't tell me. I knew half my leg was gone. I could feel it. The missing limbs were absent in my nerves and I felt very dizzy from heavy blood loss, or then again it could just be the alcohol.

"_Go on Shirosaki Sou-taichou, take Kurosaki Sou-taichou and leave this to us."_

The next thing I knew I was off the ground and resting on two very comforting arms. His neck made a perfect pillow and I was out in a few short seconds.

**Shiro's POV**

Damn it! Why did it always happen to Ichigo? Why couldn't it have this time been me? I was so sorry, so fucking sorry that I didn't see this coming, that I didn't sense the danger until it was too late.

I knew I would regret it, but after landing in a small grass clearing I took a look at Ichigo's wounds and flinched. His right leg had been blown off just under the knee; a few places had been burnt and others already bruising. Ichigo's right hand was gone too. It had only been affected because he was leaning over when his leg was hit. I mentally thanked Ichigo for having wild spiritual pressure than knocked the attack off course and I took slight comfort in the fact that I hadn't taught him how to suppress it yet.

I myself had only gotten a scratch, the blow was mainly aimed at Ichigo and I only got a small part of it due to my position beside him. This deepened my sorrow. I was sitting at such an angle that the attacker could've thought I was using Ichigo as a shield. Never! I could never do that! Ever!

_**"******__Ichigo_, c'mon, wake up!" I would've screamed, but that would have given away our position. The darkness of the night and the trees surrounding us provided a perfect hideaway. I hated hiding, I'd rather be tearing out our attacker's throat right now, but Ichigo was wounded and I was the only one who knew where he was. I couldn't leave him, nor could I bring him back to the battle field in the condition he was in.

I couldn't take this anymore! I would not allow Ichigo to **die**!

I tore off Ichigo's pant leg then rolled up his sleeve. I ripped off a large piece of cloth from my own clothing and used them as bandages for the bloody wounds Ichigo desperately needed treatment for. I used my own mouth and tongue to clean the wounds. The night was very dark, but I needn't light to see Ichigo, I could sense where his was.

And speaking of the night... Tonight was supposed to be fun. It was hilarious to see Ichigo's confused face as he aloud kept saying yes to all the drinks I offered, and his face whenever he discovered that his shot glass had been refilled... It was amazing! Absolutely perfect, just like Ichigo himself, perfect. I would've brought him home, almost unconscious, and his mind would have flipped to one conclusion when he saw the bed. I would've then enjoyed watching him try and fail miserably to top me with his drunken mind. Ichigo would get absolutely nowhere, but of course I'd carry along. Then the next morning he'd wake up with a massive headache and I'd attempt to cure it with a back massage. To him it'd be a soothing morning, but to me it'd just be an excuse to touch his magnificently tanned skin.

But sadly, none of that would happen now. And after Ichigo recovers, we'd have to investigate what happened. Then we'd find our guilty party, be pushed into a war and after it's all over we would have miles of paper work to do. Not to mention his hand and leg were gone, wiped clean along with the reiatsu that used to be there. In other words, if Orihime had tried to heal him, the limbs would grow back but they'd be irresponsive and just as useless as if he didn't have them. He'd never be the same... or so I thought.

I felt anger pulsating through Ichigo's reiatsu, his Spiritual Pressure increasing by the second. Ichigo's hand angrily clawed into the dirt below. His eyes shot open with a furious glow and they stared off into nowhere with a murderous intent. I couldn't help the smirk that crawled its way onto my face. If Ichigo could see his face right now, it was a very good look for him. A very good one indeed! I then watched my make do bandages stretch into the form of a hand and the bottom half of his leg. He was healing himself, again!

Ichigo sat up immediately when the healing process was complete. He reached out with his right arm and touched his leg, looking mildly surprised at the white bandage. Ichigo's chest moved slowly, up and down, up and down, repeat. With the same speed he turned to me, looking around once more before doing so, obviously wondering where he was.

_**"******__Ichigo_," I called softly, trying to catch his full attention. I was so fucking happy right now; it was easily showing in my voice.

However, no matter how happy I was, it couldn't have beaten the look on Ichigo's face. Never before had I seen him so happy, he was probably even happier than me, and that's saying something.

Before anything more could happen, I heard a crack in the bush behind me. In one swift motion I grabbed Ichigo, kicked off the ground and landed on a platform of my own reiatsu in the air.

Ichigo started acting like a lost puppy. His eyes shone up at me as he buried his face into my chest. Ichigo was obviously still a little dizzy and the noise below had been proven false by the lack of an attack or another presence lingering in the air.

So, with Ichigo tucked tightly in my arms, I took off for our barracks.

Ichigo's Spiritual Pressure was still tainted by anger and I could almost taste his desire to kill. But that would come soon, along with the war against our attacker. We would fight, together, side by side, all in due time.


	16. Chapter Sixteen: Confrontation

**Ichigo's POV**

_**"******__I need _to know what's happened, I need to know who they were and I need to know now," Shiro demanded as he broke through Shunsui's doors, I stood not too far behind. I could see Shiro's entire body shaking with anger, but it was covered with an authoritative mask.

"Sir," not Shunsui, but his lieutenant, Nanao spoke, "We've been attacked by a rogue Shinigami, the one in question is currently being held prisoner in the room next door, there are no fatalities as of this minute and all who were injured have been taken to Captain Unohana."

I felt arms embrace me from behind which stunned my hearing for a few moments. I turned and caught view of light red hair flowing down from a broken bun. It was Orihime, and she was crying.

"I'm so glad you're okay," She sobbed into my back. "I heard that you lost your arm and leg, and I was searching to come find you, but then I heard that _he _took you away."

When she said that, I nearly lost it. I tore Inoue's arms off my body and spun around so she could see my glare up close. When I spoke, it was with venom, "What do you mean, _he_ took me away?"

She gasped, her mouth falling open and her eyes widened. Inoue let out several stuttered words, none of them making any sense until I could suddenly hear the conversation behind me again.

"It would not be wise-"

Shiro cut him off. _**"I appreciate your concern, Shunsui, but Ichigo and I will be a part of this investigation even if it was us two who had been targeted."**_

I turned back just in time to see Shunsui nod. I left Orihime and followed Shiro, taking his hand as we entered the next room. Listening behind me I smiled as I heard Shunsui say, "Showing no fear in the midst of a war, one that had been intended to get them killed. I knew they'd make great leaders."

Then the girl in the new room added, "It wasn't intended to get you two killed. I was, shall we say, distracted when the last bomb was shot."

I closed the door while Shiro pulled two chairs out of the corner. He took one and I took the other, and the three of us sat in the center of the concrete room.

The girl was long and skinny; she wore normal Shinigami clothing equipped with a black hood that covered her face just past her nose. Her lips were smiling, it was faint, but it was there.

_**"******__Let's _skip the small talk, who-"

"Am I? Listen carefully Ichigo, who do I sound like?"

"I don't know-"

"You're still cute."

My eyes widened and at the same time my mouth fell open. She couldn't be... from the alley?

* * *

_"Can you believe it?" the first female exclaimed._

_"Of course! I wouldn't expect anything less. Though I didn't expect him to be__** that**__ cute," came a second voice. (This was her.)_

_"Don't start falling in love with a taken man, besides we have a job to do. Tonight we meet back here, okay?" the third voice commanded._

_"Yeah, whatever," the second voice replied._

* * *

"That was you in the alley? Were you talking about... me?"

She smiled. "Very good Kurosaki, I salute you."

Shiro looked almost completely confused, but now wasn't the time and I was glad he silently understood that.

"What were you going to do?"

Completely ignoring my question, she laughed out, "We've been here for a long time!"

"Answer my question!"

"We know everyone's tendancies... And yet, we can't seem to read the two of you."

_**"**__Explain_ yerself." Shiro growled with a dark glare. The answer clicked in my mind and I finally understood what this all meant.

This girl was comrade with Hana, and their group was shocked when Shiro and I defeated her. So they planned to attack me and Shiro next chance they got. I had sensed another presence during our fight with Mayuri, but I didn't see anyone and I brushed it off as a fluke of my abilities. But in reality it must have been one of the three girls I heard in that alley, which is how they knew we'd be celebrating that night.

Damn it; are we in over our heads? Is this really going to be too much to handle this time? I don't even know how many of the enemy are already inside of the Seireitei..?

"Keep thinking Ichigo, take your time, we've got the entire day!"

"That's a lie, isn't it?"

"Huh?" She finally looked up at me, blue eyes glowing faintly behind a mask of shadows cast by her hood.

I avoided returning her gaze and instead ran back to the door. I shoved it open and called to closest person I could see. "She's a distraction! Something's coming!"

Hearing her gasp was all the confirmation I needed. Everyone outside the room that had heard me nodded and took off instantly to warn the other Shinigami, no further words necessary.

I was then graced with the unfamiliar feeling of arms, one around my legs and the other around my upper back, and I was lifted from the ground. My eyes didn't have to look father than my own shoulder to see the pale hand a black fingernails tha belonged to my capturer, Shiro.

"What are you doing?"

_**"******__I'm not lettin' _ya get hurt again**."**

That was all the conversation we had. My tongue failed to produce any sounds as my mind failed to come up with words. I was the protector; I was the one who carried people in my arms, not the other way around. So you could imagine my shock as someone else picked me up and took me away from danger, the shock that I was being protected and moving through the air without actually moving a finger.

_**"******__Never _again... Not while I'm still here... I'll protect you, Ichigo..." He mumbled those words so quietly and carefully, it was almost as if he didn't say them at all. It felt so good, just to be here, with him...

Shiro jumped through the air as fast as he could, and just as we got to the third building away, the one we were previously in caught fire and exploded. Shiro turned around and I watched from my place in his arms as a massive ball of flames crawled through the air and wildly cracked away the silence.

This I wasn't dazed by, but we remained there for a good few minutes watching the fire.

Then I whispered, "You can put me down now."

Shiro complied with slight hesitance, his entire body never separating more than three inches away from mine. God I love him and I couldn't have loved him more.

"Shirosaki and Kurosaki Sou-taichou," I heard a girl shout.

Shiro and I turned away from the flames and faced the Fifth Division Captain. Her long black hair had been pulled behind her head but a thick strand had managed to get left behind. She stared at us with concern filled purple eyes that gave off the same feeling as Rukia's.

"Are you both alright? Injured, hurt-?"

I shook my head to silence her, then said, "Thanks for the concern, but we both made it out alright."

"That's good... Oh, sorry, I don't believe we've met formally. My name is Kisara."

_**"******__Nice _ta meet you," Shiro said blankly.

Kisara didn't seem to notice that he had talked. She just stared off into space slightly to my left. Kisara might've been looking at the damage, but I didn't ask so I'll never know.

"Kisara," I called. Her eyes snapped back onto me. "Can you tell Soi Fon I'd like to meet with her in my office within the next five minutes?"

"Yes, sir!" And she was gone.

_**"******__What's _that all about?"

"Soi Fon is the leader of the stealth squad. I'll need her to lead a group of Shinigami to search to Seireitei for any more hidden bombs and disable them."

Shiro smirked and nodded, obviously with approval for my new plan.

It was time to show them just how great of a leader Shiro and I can be.


	17. Chapter Seventeen: One Step Closer

Shiro and I had returned to the First Division's barracks. We entered our office together for the first time and gazed around in amazement. Not too long ago this place was covered in complete pink, but now the room had everything but it. Walls had been painted orange and crimson. A white dragon was painted across the orange and a black dragon across the red. Directly across from the door was a huge floor-to-ceiling window gazing out across the rest of our Division's property.

I walked over to orange wall and ran my hand down the paint. "Wow," I sighed happily. Both dragons were in well detail, beautiful even.

Shiro smirked at me and I returned a smile.

I heard her foot steps and sensed her Spiritual Pressure (I was getting a lot better at this) before Soi Fon even knocked on the door. After she knocked, there was a call, "Head Captain, sir, you sent for me?"

"I did Soi Fon," I replied while turning to face the door, "please enter."

Soi Fon pushed open the doors and walked in, the large pieces of wood closing automatically afterwards.

"I have a job for you," I continued to say. She nodded. "Send two members of your Stealth Squad to every Division in the Seireitei and have them search everywhere for a hidden bomb. As well, search for any females who would have joined the Seireitei at the same time as Hana."

"Yes sir, is that all?"

I nodded, and she flashed away.

Later on, Shiro and I were at work in our new office when we heard another knock at the door. Without the need to respond, Soi Fon entered.

"Finished?"

She nodded, but it was obvious that she had more to say. "Sir, we have found as much as ten bombs hidden in every Division. Four of them are standards, and we were able to neutralize them. Three were much larger, but are currently deactivated. However, three are none like there ever has been in Soul Society's history. We've sent orders to evacuate the buildings in particular that would be affected by such an explosion, but Soul Society will be almost completely destroyed if we do not shut them down."

I raced through my head for a good answer, but I honestly had none. I didn't know what to say, I wasn't a leader! For crying out loud I was merely a human before I became a Substitute Shinigami!

"_**Are the bombs accessible?"**_

Soi Fon nodded.

"_**Take us to one, an' we'll see what we can do."**_

"Sir?"

"_**Tha's an order, Soi Fon."**_

I could see that she was willing to protest, but she remembered her place and nodded. I gave Shiro a confused-as-hell look and he responded with a hand to my shoulder and a look that said, "Trust me."

"Alright," I sighed with a small nod.

Shiro smiled and the both of us took off behind Soi Fon as she led us to our destination. When we got there the very first thing I noticed was the smell. It was tangy, but sweet as well. There might've been some lemons, watermelon, or possibly even mango...?

"What is that?"

"The smell was already in the air when we arrived. It has nothing to do with the bombs as we've determined thus far."

"Would it be possible to have Mayuri investigate?"

"Captain Kurotsuchi remains in the Fourth Division. His injuries were... pretty large, to say the least," Soi Fon answered.

Great. Just great. "...What about Kisuke?"

"Urahara? No one has seen him in over a hundred years. We think he may have gone into hiding after Karakura was destroyed, but we don't know for sure."

'And the last one to see him was Tatsuki. She's gone,' I thought with frustration. Did they really think this far ahead, or was it all just me getting paranoid? Or could they all be related and this was planned by the enemy to get me paranoid?

"_**Ichigo, I'm takin' ya back to the house."**_

"I'm fine," I lied.

"_**No, yer not."**_ He caught me in his arms before I could even blink and held me in such a way that it was impossible to escape. _**"I'll be back later Soi Fon. He needs to take a break."**_

Soi Fon nodded, before running off to help one of her own division members. I glared at Shiro before he rested my head in his shoulder, leaving me to pout while staring off into the distance. I didn't want to sleep or take a break. I needed to help. God, it's so not fair... I can't argue with him. If I did I'd definitely lose.

"_**Quit grumblin' would ya? Yer actin' like a child."**_

"Oh shut up. I am not."

"_**Denial's the first sign of a lie Ichigo."**_

I sighed. He was right, not like I'd ever admit that though...

"_**Just go to our room an' sleep." **_He whispered softly. My eyes fluttered closed as a result of his hand brushing gently the top of my back. _**"I'll always be there when ya wake up, and if not ya know how to reach me."**_

Noises and sounds begun to fade as sleep slowly took over my mind. His voice was like a lullaby, soft and sweet, music to _my_ ears. Shiro was beautiful, and as I fell asleep my dreams were filled with him. It was going to be the greatest sleep I've had in a very long time.

And it was.

When I woke it was dark. A candle was lit just outside of the door trailing a flickering beam of light into what appeared as my room. I could make out the faint outline of the closed window and the wooden beams at the end of my bed. I lay in the middle, covered in a few light sheets.

I stood and looked around, allowing my eyes to get used to the darkness. After a little while I realised I was only wearing my hakama. My cheeks heated up a bit; it was probably Shiro who took off my shirt.

By then my only real instinct was to walk out to where the light was, so that's what I did. When I stepped out I could see that the light was coming from across the hall in the study. The door was wide open and I could hear the gentile clicking of computer keys that came along with papers flipping.

A silent sigh escaped my lips when my eyes fell apon Shiro, who was working hard to finish both of our weekly reports. I leaned against the door frame, crossing my arms as I did so. When Shiro didn't seem to notice me, I walked right up and bent his chair backwards so his eyes met mine.

"Now who's working too hard," I questioned with an eyebrow raised.

"_**Ha ha very funny," **_he sung in a blank tone.

I chuckled at the shock in his eyes, but Shiro quickly turned the tables by pulling my head down and smashing our lips together, officially transferring his shock to me.

"_**You haven' got a clue how good you taste..." **_He moaned afterwards.

I rolled my eyes and took hold of his chair, then pulled him a good three meters away from the desk. "Come on Shiro. It's dark out. We should both be in bed."

"_**Aww... Ichi, are ya comin' onta me?"**_

Okay, now I was really blushing. "N-No! But I'm n-not letting you stay out here either!"

He chuckled, ass hole, but I loved him.


	18. Chapter Eighteen: Orihime

We both discovered, Shiro and me, that we weren't really tired when we went to bed. So, much to my lovesick begging, we decided to sit on our bed and stare out the window. The moon had been revealed through the clouds and now lit up the trees and earth below.

I sighed, but did so happily.

Shiro's arm was around my back, he held me firmly. I rested my head on his shoulder.

See? Totally lovesick...

I eventually found that my eyes no longer wanted to remain open. I looked up at Shiro, laughing slightly as his eyes appeared to already be closed. I gave him a gentle nudge and they opened revealing his beautiful midnight surrounding yellow eyes.

Without much sound, he and I worked to position ourselves underneath the black bed sheets, the red ones being washed because of our... ahem, us doing stuff...

After actually settling down, Shiro's arm returned to my waist, his body pressed gently against mine. I smiled and probably fell asleep smiling, though I couldn't remember... I'd fallen asleep.

"Ichigo!"

My eyes opened, and I rolled out of bed.

"Ichigo!" The girl continued to call.

I wobbled over to the window and looked outside. To my dismay, the sun hadn't even looked over the horizon yet. I looked down and beside the house stood Orihime. "What is Inoue? It's a little early for a visit, don't you think?"

"There's something I have to show you Kurosaki-kun! Please, come quickly!"

The panic in her voice had me alarmed. Thinking quickly, I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen then wrote quickly a note. Then I put on and straightened my Shihakusho, threw the Head Captain's robes overtop and ran down the stairs.

"Thank you," Inoue practically cried.

Without much direction or hesitation, I followed her. She led me down a long cement pathway that headed towards, from what I could see, and old housing district. We arrived at a small gate that looked like one you'd see on in a horror film... all old and grey.

I wasn't too surprised when it opened the moment I came close to it. I was finally getting used to the authority I held.

Inoue led me towards a house, one that stood tall and proud compared to others. She pushed open the door and we entered.

My mouth dropped at the horror which revealed itself. Four women, whom I've never seen before, lay about across chairs and couches. Caught in the middle with swords to their throats, were my sisters.

Inoue gave me shove and I barely stumbled in. When I spun to face her, she had a sad look on her face but locked the door regardless. I turned back to the others who all held sneers and brought their swords closer to Yuzu and Karin's terrified faces.

"Let them go!" I screamed, my hand already reaching for Zangetsu's hilt.

"Or you'll do what?" A fifth asked. I looked to my right where another girl came walking down the stairs. "Tell ya what, you put your hands where we can see them and the girls won't have to suffer."

"Ichigo don't!" Karin screamed.

My lip quivered, anger and fear making a deadly contrast within my mind.

Finally I decided.

Lifting my hands in front of me, I surrendered.

**Shiro's POV**

It felt..._ strange_ when I woke up without Ichigo here. I could still sense his Spiritual Pressure and that meant he should be fine, but something still worried me. I told my mind not to worry and that Ichigo would be fine, but my heart (yeah, I have one of those) still ached.

I got out of bed and looked for things that were out of place. Knowing Ichigo he probably would've left a note... Yup, there it was, right on the table.

I picked it up and noticed three things instantly. One; Ichigo was in a rush when he wrote this, the words were written quickly and in a mess. Two; this had been written less than an hour ago, his Reiatsu was still on the page. And three; the page undoubtedly said Orihime.

"_Good morning Shiro. Sorry for dropping a note and leaving, but Orihime came by and she looked really worried. If you need to find me you can follow the trail of Spiritual Pressure or something like that. Ichigo."_

I chuckled slightly. The straightforwardness was actually kinda funny. And I found amusement in the fact that Ichigo knew precisely what I was gonna do.

Let's be honest. Ichigo and I most definitely can't be separated for more than an hour without feeling completely out of place. That was what I discovered last night... At first I felt fine while Ichigo slept, but not long after that I discovered a sense of unease. I came back here immediately and, well, that led to what you already know...

I left the letter on the desk in case anyone came snooping. They'd see the letter and know where to go. And I took off following Ichigo's trail of Reiatsu. I followed the trail carefully, and made sure that I myself wasn't followed. My Spiritual Pressure was on halt all the way so that no one could sense me coming, just in case Ichigo really was in trouble.

I already hated the fact that Orihime's Reiatsu appeared to be smothering Ichigo's, but I grinned at the annoyance I felt in his. Oh no, there's no way Ichigo would leave me, no freakin' way.

He's a loyal and tough son of a bitch, but he was **my** bitch, no one else's.

Back on track... I stopped when I felt an unfamiliar sensation of fear and shortly after came worry. Ichigo's Spiritual Pressure just caught fire, anger and real annoyance blazing wildly. Something was wrong.

And I mentally swore that if Orihime had anything to do with this, I'd kill that whore myself.

**Ichigo's POV**

"You won't get away with this," I swore, looking at each girl in the eye. They had all turned their attention on me, making sure to knock out Karin and Yuzu before doing so.

"Oh but I think we will," Their leader, which I had learnt was named Iana, said. Her hand was behind her back, she was holding something, but I was powerless to ask what. They took Zangetsu and stripped me to just my hakama. Then they tied me to a post with a belt around my waist and my hands tied behind my back.

"Besides," one of the others girls snickered, "it's not like you're gonna care."

Those words scared me. Of course I was going to care, why wouldn't I...?

I was starting to panic; I might've even felt scared. I had one last option. Even though it didn't work before, I thought I'd give it one more try. _'Shiro! Please help me!'_

...No answer.

Something pierced my skin, it burned and I cringed, though I refused to make a sound. I looked at my chest. Iana held a needle firmly to my skin. The vile was filled with a pure black substance that now slowly emptied into my body.

I wanted to cry, for a while I thought I might have. My eyes were dry and burning, but I felt no tears running down my cheeks. The belt around my waist had been undone, my hands freed too, and I fell forward. My knees hit the ground first, and then my hands. I tried my best to stay still but even then my head spun.

"Do you wanna know what this is?" Iana asked, waving the empty needle in front of my face.

I couldn't reply. I might've fallen over.

"It's made up of two things... First; blood from a thousand different Hollows, each at the level of an Adjuchas. Second; an elixir that makes even the strongest of Shinigami turn against their allies."

"You... bitch..." I muttered. The dizziness in my head had been replaced with pain. I coughed rather roughly and what felt like blood came out of my lips. My hand shook when I brought it to my mouth, but I didn't care. I touched the wet spot and held my hand in front of my face to see if I really was bleeding, but to my great disappointment there was no blood... only a white fluid.

"Ladies, allow me to introduce the new Ichigo Kurosaki!"

I looked back at each of them, making sure to get a good glare at whoever came into my vision. The very last thing I saw was Inoue's terrified expression.


	19. Chapter Nineteen: Don't leave me!

**Shiro's POV**

I came face to face with a large grey gate. I was ready to give a knock, but before I could I was frozen by Ichigo's Reiatsu. It multiplied well beyond five times than the level it had been at before. But that wasn't what surprised me.

Ichigo's power, released at full force, would be nearly fifty times the amount given off by a captain. So, his still remained relatively low. But it was how his changed in just a few seconds that had me worried greatly. Ichigo's Reiatsu vanished and had been replaced with a much higher presence, one filled with anger, wickedness and emptiness.

A Hollow had appeared.

'_Shiro! Please help me!'_

Ichigo. He was calling me.

That was it. The last straw. Whoever took him was dead. NOW.

I prepared to kick down the gate, but was stopped when the presence had appeared directly behind me. All of my other senses were dulled by pain. I looked down at the black stained red katana that protruded through my chest. My oxygen had been cut off from a mixture of my punctured throat and the blood that now clogged it.

Using the last of my strength, I took hold of the blade and turned my head around to face him.

'_Ichigo, now it's my turn to take the hit for you.'_

I smiled, not a grin or a smirk, I gave him a real smile. And that was all there was to it.

**Ichigo's POV**

Useless scum. I'd kill every last one of them.

The girls died first. It didn't even take me a second to cut their heads from their bodies. Iana remained, grinning, laughing as I did the most utterly boring thing in the world.

Yuzu and Karin, they were already unconscious, where would be the fun in that? But I did it anyways. People so weak didn't deserve to live.

They were all boring. Useless. Weak.

I left the house immediately following their deaths.

My plan was to go to the Seireitei, but then something amazing caught my eye. A Hollow, maybe two or three time my power, stood outside a gate. I accepted such a challenge immediately and appeared behind him with my sword already out.

He was dying, we both knew it. But just as he was about to collapse, he did the most interesting thing. He grabbed my sword, so I couldn't run off, turned around and smiled.

I heard him speak, yet his mouth did not move. _'Ichigo, now it's my turn to take the hit for you.'_

Ichigo. Was he talking to me? Was Ichigo my name? Now that I thought about it I don't even remember if I had a name.

I let go of my sword and the man fell. I gazed down at my hands, for the first time noticing the claws atop my fingers. This was me... but for some reason it just didn't feel right!

I thrashed about furiously, trying to keep images from another life out of my head. I found my hand at the base of my throat searching for something, but I didn't know what. When I came across my mask, I took hold of it. Was this what I was searching for?

I let out a furious roar and ripped the mask from my face. It shattered along with the claws and the tail that I had grown. I could almost remember something... I could almost taste the memories on my lips.

I could remember a voice calling me to free him and promising that he'd protect me. I could feel his arms around me as he saved me from death so many times. I could taste his sweet lips as they pressed against mine or on my forehead or on my hand... my frost bitten hand...

Oh god. What have I done!?

I fell to my knees at the sight of his body. It was my sword that stained his pure white being red. I reached out to touch his face and gasped when I found his skin to be so cold. I did my best to muffle the sobs that so longingly wished to be released. I placed my fingers over his eyes and closed them.

I could hear her footsteps as she walked out from the house. "Funny how the mighty can fall so easily," Iana said. I could sense her smirk. "By the way, you've officially just murdered my clan, your sisters and your fellow Head Captain. No power will get you out of this one Kurosaki. You're going straight back to that cell, where I'm going to-"

"Do you really think that I'm going to allow that?"

My eyes opened wide. "Dad!"

"Ichigo," he greeted.

"Your son murdered your daughters Isshin, and he's responsible for the death of your wife twice now."

I should have felt upset, guilty, sad, depressed... but all I could feel was anger. Inside me there was a monster clawing his way out to the surface. It was filling my blood with rage and my body with power, but I kept it suppressed. The key was control, and I'd use mine to release this monster only at the exact moment I needed it most.

"That's enough of your lies," my dad half growled. He was surprisingly serious. "Masaki's death never was Ichigo's fault. Among the living she loved Ichigo so much she would die for him, and that is exactly what happened. And here she and I were only working to help Ichigo escape the vile treatment he was under, never otherwise."

The long ago gained sorrow in my heart vanished with just those simple words. Mom only was trying to protect me, and she took the blow that'd kill. And, I guess, I do the exact same thing. I take the front blow for my friends, so they wouldn't have to.

I glanced at Shiro. He did the same thing for me that I'd do for him.

"Beneath the Kurosaki household, we each made a silent vow. We'd die just for a chance to allow the others to continue on. Masaki understood that the most, and now Ichigo understands that too." My dad finally caught my eye, but the look he gave me represented a warning.

"Enough of this bull shit." Iana's own Zanpakuto was finally revealed just mere seconds before it was sent flying through my dad's stomach. He smiled at me, signaling my next move. Dad grabbed Iana's sword and her arm which positioned her wide open for my attack.

Feeling it would be wrong to tear my own Zanpakuto from Shiro's chest, I lifted his off the ground. At my touch it activated Bankai and shined a bright white. I allowed the monster to break through its confinement and show itself through my anger. I gave Iana the best glare I held before Shiro's blade sliced clean through her body from shoulder to hip.

I dropped to my knees and slammed my fists into the ground. My anger was still at its peak and a loud pained cry escaped from lips. I lost everything. EVERYTHING! My sisters, my dad, my peace, and my everything. I lost my love. I lost the one person who remained by my side no matter what. I lost my heart. I lost my Shiro.

Two hands appeared on my shoulders. I assumed they belonged to one of the captains, probably Jushiro. There were no words, just the simple touch of hands that tried to comfort me. Well, it honestly wasn't working... much.

Then I heard it. The faintest of a chuckle. The softest of a laugh. I spun around and instantly placed my lips against theirs, shoving their entire frame against the ground. My fingers laced with theirs, both of us squeezing fiercely. Relief washed over my entire body. Everything else just disappeared and all that remained was peace.


	20. Chapter Twenty: The End

**Author's POV**

~Two Weeks Later~

Taking in a deep breath, Ichigo proceeded to open the doors. His legs lost feeling and his fingers were already numb. Ichigo didn't smile, nor did he shed tears, he simply gave a gentile nod to each person who walked by.

Kisuke placed a hand on Ichigo's shoulders, giving the teen's body an apologetic shake. Ichigo sighed and looked down, and that was how he remained until a familiar inverted shihakusho appeared in his vision.

Ichigo clung to Shiro with all his might, but he still didn't cry. Shiro placed his hands on Ichigo's back, soothing the teen with gentile strokes and rubbing motions. Ichigo could still feel his hollow's warmth and he was always ever-so-glad he gave his hollow a chance.

Shiro placed his lips on Ichigo's cheek, whispering softy, _**"I'm here fer ya Ichigo"**_ then pulling back.

Ichigo nodded, swallowing the spit gathered in his mouth. Then, clearing his throat, Ichigo made his way to the front of the very large (quiet) crowd.

He spoke.

"The past few weeks have been tough on us all..." Ichigo began.

Yoruichi, Kisuke and Soi Fon each sat with their heads looking down.

"We've all been pushed to our limits both physically and mentally."

Momo couldn't supress her tears, even just barely her sobs, as she cried against Toshiro's shoulder. Toshiro, feeling awkward at first, now sat motionlessly and allowed Momo to continue. Rangiku comforted the third seat from the other side, gently rubbing poor Momo's back.

"The Soul Society has suffered a large amount of damage..."

Byakuya, Rukia, Renji and Jushiro sat with their heads up and looking at the four black caskets resting behind Ichigo. In another row, Kisara, Shunsui and Nanao were doing the same thing. Each one of their faces was blank.

"...but that isn't why we're here."

Shiro looked down causing a chain reaction of tears from other Shinigami. Shiro was glad that the others were finally there for Ichigo, but he silently wished to tell them all "Fuck off!" He knew they just wanted to make Ichigo feel better... but Shiro knew they were making Ichigo feel worse.

"Two weeks ago today, Kurosaki Isshin..." One tear fell. "...Kurosaki Karin, Kurosaki Yuzu..." Three tears fell. "...and Orihime Inoue passed away from this world."

'The say that Shinigami are not allowed to cry,' Rukia thought. 'They say it's a weakness of the soul, and it'd prove fatal in battle. But they ask too much and no one really knows who 'they' are anyways.' Rukia looked up at Ichigo, noticing how strained he was trying to keep his tears within. 'It's okay to cry. After all, Ichigo's a teenager who's lost his family, who's supposed to lead an entire army and who's suffered more than any of us here.'

Shiro stood and made his way to Ichigo. He wrapped his arms around the sobbing teen, placing a gentile kiss on his forehead. _**"We'll always remember those we've lost, but we're gonna stay strong an' we're gonna push back twice as hard whenever someone hits us first!"**_

Many of the men cheered, some of the girls smiled and many remained in tears. Ichigo smiled thankfully up at Shiro, placing a kiss on his lips before tucking his head safely beneath Shiro's head.

"Right," Soi Fon took over the attention, "today we rest, but tomorrow we resume training as per usual. The Soul Society needs fixing and it's up to us to do so."

Shiro and Ichigo nodded at Soi Fon, who nodded back and flashed off.

The Seireitei was fixed in a matter of days. All damage was repaired and some buildings were even redesigned. Ichigo and Shiro remade everything from memory, and although it was a lot of work, everybody was glad when the Soul Society was returned to normal.

And so, I guess you could say, they all lived hap-

Shiro: No! I ain't doin' this! No cheesy endin's!

Me: Aw come on Shiro! The happy ones are always cheesy!

Shiro: Can I have ice cream instead of cheese?

Me: ...why?

Shiro: One, the cold makes Ichi squirm, and two, strawberries taste better covered in chocolate!

Ichigo: O.o

Me: ...way to end the story...

Shiro: *laughs evilly* *drags Ichigo off*

Me: ...And not on the couch!

**The End**


End file.
